


Devils Don't Fly

by agirlnamedtruth



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Deception, Demons, Dimension Travel, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Time, Hell, Human/Demon Relationship, Identity Issues, Lies, M/M, Minor Character Death, Relationship Issues, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-18 15:27:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1433476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlnamedtruth/pseuds/agirlnamedtruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgana, a demon Commander, finds herself in need of a soul to replace one that belonged to Merlin, a general under her command, and she thinks she's found the perfect one in Arthur Pendragon. If only his honourable bodygaurd, Leon, hadn't gotten in the way. Now she doesn't know what she wants and Merlin isn't exactly helping either, sneaking off left, right and centre without her knowing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Devils Don't Fly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crimsonswirls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonswirls/gifts).



> Written for [Merlin Reverse Bang](http://merlinreversebb.livejournal.com/profile) \- thank you so much to Crims for making such fantastic artwork and giving me such a brilliant prompt. Unfortunately I can't get hold of her right now but hopefully I can edit in a link to her masterpost at a later time. [Here is the piece of art that inspired it, at least <3](http://i.imgur.com/UwCljb3.png)

  
_You know devils don't fly  
So don't expect me not to fall_

_Devils don't fly  
But God we almost had it all_

_But I got chains and you got wings,  
You know that life ain't fair sometimes_

_Devils don't fly  
But I try._

-x-

Morgana crossed one leg over the over, fingering the hilt of the sword that never left her side. Something was under her skin, getting her back up and warning her of danger. Something was wrong, and in Hell, that was something to worry about.

She cast her eyes around. She was only a guest here so she was at a disadvantage, trying to work out which threat was the real one while feeling like a leashed animal herself. Maybe she just needed to get out; go _out_ , on a mission or something. It had been years since her last one. Too much time in Hell made her antsy, brought out the worst of her paranoia and destructive tendencies. Laughable really, it was supposed to be _Hell_ after all. But worse, it brought out some of her best traits as well like her fierce loyalty and unquestioning devotion. She’d follow her allies to the ends of the world. In fact, she had done exactly that once or twice with Merlin.

So feeling a wave of negativity – hostility even – wash over her was making her blood run hot under her cool skin. There’d be trouble, one way or another. And trouble for Merlin meant trouble for her and if she couldn’t handle it, well, she didn’t want to drag her sister, Morgause, into it. Nobody needed that.

“Mer-“ Morgana cut herself off, casting her eyes back down, silently cursing for forgetting herself. This wasn’t her corner, it was his and even though she outranked him now, it wouldn’t do to be overly familiar in front of those he was charged with. “General, might this meeting be cut short? I fear bad tempers are easily frayed. You know what they say about the devil’s playthings and idle hands?”

“If you have better things to do, don’t let us detain you,” Merlin said, his eyes flashing towards her, supernatural gold shimmering through blue, reminding her with a look that she was here by choice and not by command.

“No, of course not, _General_ ,” she said, biting the inside of her cheek, the dismissal making her blood run hotter. But the message was received, she knew it. Merlin would listen to her, cut the meeting short and keep an eye out for trouble. He just couldn’t be seen to be kicked into line by a visiting demon.

As it was, he kept them there another hour, as it passed in the Other Dimension. They weren’t allowed to call it by its name, it was feared like some blasphemy to say the word. Dissent seemed to follow shortly after and banishment was never far behind.

“Commander Morgana,” Merlin said, voice crawling over her skin like the most decadent silk, soothing her frayed nerves instantly, even though they had never been lovers or anything of the sort. “Stay.”

Morgana narrowed her eyes, trying to wordlessly communicate that she was not a pup nor was she his bitch. But he inclined his head, offering her the seat at his right hand and she forgave him despite herself.

When the room cleared, he softened around the edges and she saw a glimpse of the determined soul that had reached into the squalid depths of the royal halls of Hell to save her from her own eternal boredom. She’d worked hard to get where she was and gotten a lot of blood on her hands working her way officially up the ranks but she would have never stood a chance if Merlin hadn’t seen something in her that nobody else ever had. Everyone else assumed she should be happy as a Princess of Hell, everything handed to her on a platter but she’d been utterly miserable. Now she was a commander. The highest rank a demon could be. And she was happy. Mostly.

"What is it?" Merlin asked her, handing her a letter opener.

She looked down at it and smiled, turning the completely blunt blade between her fingers to relieve her stress. He knew her better than anyone and he knew she was itching to get her dagger out and feel the cold metal reassuring beneath her fingers. This way, she wouldn't get his glass table dirty if she slipped. Not that it would matter, she’d heal almost instantly but he was very particular about blood being kept to the appropriate places. She'd think he was squeamish if on their first mission together she hadn't seen him tear apart a Sidhe with his bare hands.

"Trouble," Morgana said, palming the blade. "You have a weak link in your ranks, I can feel their dissent."

"You always were so empathic, that's why I put you up for Commander," Merlin commented, deflecting the issue.

"Yes, so empathic in fact that I can tell you're not bothered by this." She set the letter opener down with a clatter, the familiarity it represented turning sour in her mouth. She'd hoped they were past these games now, these _exercises_. "You know already? You set this all up?"

"Not at all, I didn't even know you were coming," Merlin said dismissively and Morgana had to take a steady breath, still too edgy to be wilfully ignored.

"What then?" she asked through her teeth. "I tell you that you have what could be stirrings of an uprising on your hands and you couldn’t care less."

"Morgana," he said, reaching out to place a hand over her own. She could feel him trying to soothe her but that wouldn't work anymore, she had control over him now, not the other way around.

"When I first took you on, a day wouldn't go by without someone telling me you were trouble. Did I cast you aside?" Merlin waited until she shook her head sulkily. "Then do not ask me to do it to another. I trust my corp. completely, every one of them. Don't make me regret trusting you."

Morgana pulled her hand away from him, burned by the double edged sword that was his loyalty.

"You wind up in the Cage, don't come crying to me." Morgana stood, shuddering internally at the thought. She wouldn't be able to help him there.

The Cage was where every common criminal and former leaders were kept, having been deposed. The only way to climb in Hell was to take what belonged to someone above and push them from the ladder. But being immortal, there was nothing to stop them climbing back up again and seeking vengeance. Only the Cage. And she'd climbed very high.

"If you have a problem with a demon under my command, raise it with Our Lady, Morgause."

Morgana opened the door and slammed it behind her. The board was set for better or worse. She couldn't go to her sister, reigning Queen of Hell, without names, designations and proof. She also couldn't act to find proof behind Merlin's back without it being an act of war, if he chose to see it that way. And here, millennia long wars were started before breakfast on a daily basis. She was trapped between molten rock and the hardest place in all of Hell.

-x-

She waited and watched, listening for the halted breath that would tell her of Merlin's downfall, but it didn't come. For months and months, the numbers came to her and they were perfect. Souls bartered, sins inspired, rituals completed, relics recovered, people possessed, catastrophes caused. There was nothing she could find fault with, no back handed deals, no unequal shares of power.

Then she heard the word. 

_Lowborn_.

She'd done her digging on Merlin when he'd come to her with his offer. He'd seemed too good to be true and he was. Everyone had their dirty little secrets and one of the most guarded ones were how you came into the world. Her birth was no secret, she was a daughter of Satan, a royal princess, her birth would have been announced to great fanfare but with the sprawling mess that their family was, she was soon forgotten and nobody cared to draw attention to her. Everyone had their secrets, even the Devil, whom she soon learned to call her sister, not mother. Our Lady, Morgause. Because being Satan was so gauche these days.

Morgana was highborn, she'd come into being as a demon, she'd never known anything else. Her manner of birth came with its own dangers, assassination for one, Sunday dinners were a nightmare and the politics of the royal court didn't bear thinking about. She was glad to be out of it.

But as there was one end of the scale, there was the other. Lowborns. Demons that had once been humans, souls damned to hell. It wasn't as simple as the humans would have it be believed with their religions. One wasn't sentenced to damnation for getting a bit frisky with the vicar's daughter or murdering hitchhikers on the roadside. No, you had to really make an effort to get into hell.

It required something few humans had; truly dark magic. And it did require murder. Because _everything_ begotten in Hell had to be taken. In the Other dimension, they were bound by their laws and that made them vulnerable. Every dead demon had been killed on the Other side. An exorcism gone wrong, a human with a itching to get into Hell or... simply never returning.

Merlin was lowborn. He never would tell her whom he'd killed or why but he was a marked soul, a former human. It wasn't exactly a secret. When one killed a demon, one became marked. A golden glow hiding just under the surface, the essence of another demon wallowing just under the skin. The power absorbed. The life force stolen. Every so often it would flicker through his blue eyes like hellfire. Being lowborn was usually the worst secret to have and so golden eyes were never seen. Merlin was the only one who wore them like a badge of honour and a penance for his crime. That was the whisper that had made Morgana say yes to him. It wasn't stupidity or bravery, it was humanity and because she couldn't feel it herself, it fascinated her.

And so, when she heard the word, she waited around the corner, hoping it was one of Merlin's simply so she could put an end to it before it started. Her heart dropped when she saw the speaker.

"Cedric." She nodded to Merlin's second in command, trying to place the other two demons of little consequence. "Edwin and George, is it?"

"Commander," Cedric said, his tone false surprise, like he'd never been happier to see her.

When she was Merlin's second in command, she'd always hated him. He was slimy, like a leech. He'd rather attach himself to someone better and let them do the dirty work. It seemed he'd had his fill of sucking up to Merlin. Edwin was sly and underhanded; she wasn't surprised to see him in on it. And if she remembered correctly, George had such delusions of his own grandeur that it made Morgana literally want to shove his head up his own arse.

"Shall we take a walk, gentlemen?" she offered even though none of them were gentleman. But she needed them elsewhere before she could start making threats.

"We're rather busy actually, perhaps another time," Cedric said, squirming so much that it made her skin crawl.

"Well, a little snakey tells me you're looking to advance yourselves," Morgana whispered, knowing they would either follow her out of greed or fear. It didn't matter which so long as they did. "I could help you with that, having bested a General once myself."

They looked from one to the other and all shrugged.

"Excellent," she said, leading the way.

They couldn't talk here and she told them as much. She wanted nothing more than to throw them in the Cage but she wasn't sure she could take three of them and keep back the masses at the same time. Instead, she led them to one of the gateways to the Other side. They could keep an eye on things in general there and if they had an investment they could watch individual humans and the chances of them being overheard were considerably lower.

They eyed her warily as she gestured to the cave-like opening in the wall. It was just a cave on the Other side, one of the many gateways in Hell and one they may not have seen before.

"It leads to a forest in Gloucestershire. Nothing to be frightened of," she said, her voice sickly sweet as she patronised them, hoping to stir up their male bravado, but these were cowards she was dealing with and they didn't rush forward to prove they weren't.

"You're armed," Edwin pointed out, patting himself down. "And we are not."

"And there is a danger in the Other world," George pointed out like she didn't already know.

"Mortality," Cedric spat, like it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth to say it. "Bloody humans."

Morgana knew the accusation wasn't against humans, it was against her so she unbuckled her belt, letting it clang to the floor with the several knives it had held.

"If it makes you feel more... secure," she said, gesturing at the belt. Her deep purple crushed velvet dress billowed without it but she didn't think they'd try searching her for a concealed weapon. She started walking again and this time they followed her.

When she was clear on the Other side, she took a deep breath. It had been more years than she cared to count since she'd last stepped on dirt. Since she'd last smelt rain and breathed oxygen. She could hear a fox tearing into a rabbit in the distance, its tiny heart pounding furiously fast. Her own heart was beating pretty hard as well, though she was the fox, not the rabbit.

Morgana turned to eye each one of them in turn before outright asking, "What's your plan?"

She knew if she was caught now she'd be screwed, but this way she didn't have to cross anyone, not really. She'd find out what they intended to do, relay it back to Merlin and let him deal with it, if he even wanted to. It would be off her conscience at least.

"The plan is," Cedric started, looking at Edwin and George, seeking their approval to share and getting it. "We were going to lure the General somewhere he was vulnerable and kill him, take on his power like he did to some other poor bastard but we've got a new plan now."

He pulled a blade from behind his back and Morgana swallowed, feeling the other two press in on her at each side. Any way this could end, it wouldn't end well.

"Why kill a General when we can kill a Commander?" Cedric finished, stating the obvious for her.

George made to grab her arm but she caught his hand before he could touch her, breaking it at the wrist.

"Don't do this," she implored them. She cared little about her life and even less about theirs but if this became a kill or be killed scenario, there would be trouble and Merlin _hated_ trouble.

Cedric rushed at her with the sword, her own sword no less, the one she'd unbuckled in the cave. The metal was swinging towards her neck, her plea ignored and she had she could either duck and spin or let the thing take her head off. She went with option a.

Using his momentum to trip him, she made him fall face first onto the mossy ground. She put the heel of her boot on the back of his hand, grinding down until she heard bones crunch and he let go of the sword.

Edwin rushed her just as she was picking it up and even though she hadn't entirely meant it to, it ended up driven through his gut, coming back sparkling red. A fatal blow if he didn't get back soon. Bloody Hell.

"Do you want to follow him?" She raised the sword towards George, hoping she could still salvage this. George shook his head wildly, balking. "Then run home, take him with you, never speak of this again and never cross Merlin so long as you live."

George scrambled to help Edwin back up and they limped back into the cave. Back home where badly timed incursions with swords were mere annoyances. Morgana sighed, placing her boot on Cedric's spine, pressing down enough to give him back ache but not enough to break anything.

"Will you let this stupid scheme go now?" Morgana asked. "I meant it when I said I could help. This isn't how you rise in Hell. We're demons, not savages. You put together a portfolio, challenge a General openly. _Not_ Merlin. Pick a different one, I'll back you. But you have to go through the proper channels."

"Alright, alright. I will, I swear," Cedric said, stilling in submission under her foot.

She set her foot back on the floor. She didn't trust him. Maybe it would take years but he'd grab for easy power again eventually. She'd have to keep an eye on him forever now. She'd have to tell Merlin.

Turning her back, she felt him move before she saw it. A blade nicked the skin of her throat and it burned with pain but it wasn't a fatal blow. Cedric tried it again but she caught his wrist and twisted it up and back, burying the dagger he'd apparently stolen from her as well into his neck.

He dropped to the floor and Morgana clutched at her own neck, feeling an agony sharper than a small cut. It was as if her dagger was in her own flesh. She sank to her knees and screamed, the sound burning up her throat like fire. And then gold was rising from Cedric's body and she understood. She had killed him. She had taken his life on the mortal realm. She had, bound in her own mortality, taken Cedric’s.

The gold smoke forced its way into her lungs and she could feel it infiltrate every cell, filling her with Cedric's power. It was meaningless. Her own power overshadowed his easily and she already had a demon's soul inside her, her own.

But gold spun through her green eyes none the less, tainting her. She had no idea what it meant - was she two demons now? Surely not. But she knew she had done something terrible. This would be her secret. And she had to share it. She needed help.

She pulled her dagger free, picked up the fallen sword and shakily made her way back through the cave, leaving the body for the humans to deal with. Just another John Doe dead in the woods.

-x-

There were several portals to Hell and back again. Some were old fashioned and had monasteries built over them, some were modern and could easily be mistaken for a bank. Some were just plain weird, like the one that led directly into Mount St. Helens. And then there were a few that were for private use, for _business_ use. The button marked seven in the left hand lift of Pendragon Enterprises was one of those. Nobody went up to seven and if they ever did, they felt an odd urge to use the one on the right side of the building, even if the left one was closer.

It had been Merlin's idea. A bit of a joke. Seventh Heaven, right? Uther Pendragon hadn't found it funny. His surly son Arthur, at the difficult age of sixteen, had found it hilarious, just to spite his father. That was the first time Merlin had looked twice at him. The next time he'd looked twice at him was ten years later when Arthur had handed him a bottle of _Casillero del Diablo_ Shiraz and what Merlin was sure was a slice of Devil's food cake at his father’s funeral. They'd shared the bottle and in a spectacular move of unprofessionalism, he'd ended up wearing more of the cake than he got to eat. Arthur had gotten his fair share though, if not in the conventional manner.

The lift dinged, reminding Merlin he was here on business. The doors opened straight into Arthur's penthouse office, another thing only the left lift did. Merlin walked in like he owned the place because in a manner of speaking, he did. Or at least he had, once. That debt was paid.

Arthur looked up from his papers, the barest hint of a smile on his lips before he looked back down. "Is it that time of year already? You're worse than the tax man."

"I protect my investments," Merlin muttered, perching on the desk and turning the papers towards himself. "As you can see."

Merlin cast his eyes over the numbers, satisfied with them. Uther's deal had technically expired the moment he'd died but Merlin liked to keep his fingers in certain pies and Arthur, well, he was one of those pies.

“Is that all this is, an investment?” Arthur asked, his hand sliding up Merlin’s thigh, creasing the expensive dress trousers he wore just in case someone should ever see him.

It was his own fault. He’d sat suggestively on the desk, practically in Arthur’s lap but he’d put this trip down as official and that meant anyone could be watching, anyone could come through _either_ entrance. And while intermingling with the humans wasn’t illegal, there _were_ certain rules. Like swinging them over your shoulder, dragging them to Hell and chaining them to your desk, ready to service you at any hour of the day. _Romance_ was certainly not acceptable, an _equal_ relationship was unthinkable and _love_ , well, they didn’t have love back home. If a demon ever had fallen for a human, they’d never spoken of it and nobody had a wife or a husband or kids on Ea... on the Other side. It just wasn’t done. Humans were nothing more than souls to be corralled one way or the other like cattle, to Heaven or Hell or abandoned in the middle if nobody wanted them. The idea of falling in love with a human was like a human falling in love with a goldfish, even deep down he knew that. And yet... he wanted to stay. He wanted to let Arthur’s hand climb higher. He wanted to have him right there on the desk where anyone, human or demon or anything in between could see. He wanted to make Arthur smile.

“I can’t stay,” Merlin said sadly. “I’m here on the clock; anyone could follow me or look in on me.”

“You’re a demon, what could they possibly do to you that’s worse than what goes on every day down there?” Arthur pouted but pulled his hand away. “It’s been six weeks since I last saw you. Six weeks. I’m like a Hell widow or something.”

"I know," Merlin said and he did, he _knew_. He'd been counting down the days until he had a reasonable excuse to visit. He'd even tried to justify a few unreasonable excuses but it was no use. He missed the days when he could come and go as he pleased.

"Look, there's a coup going on at the moment. I can't risk anyone finding out about you," Merlin explained. "Rule one of bringing anyone down, no matter how powerful they are, find their weakness and exploit it."

"Is that what I am now, a weakness?" Arthur asked, smiling shrewdly. "A moment ago I was an investment."

"You're both," Merlin decided. "Take it as a compliment."

"Hmmm," Arthur mused, staring up at him seriously all of a sudden. "Should I be worried?"

"No, of course not, you don't have to worry about anything," Merlin assured him.

"Alright," Arthur said, used to Merlin side stepping difficult questions. "Are _you_ worried?"

Merlin brought his leg up, resting his foot on the arm of Arthur's chair, propping his elbow on his knee and his chin on his knuckles, finding a bit of comfort in Arthur's concerned look. "No, it's just a few upstarts, they'll make big plans but soon enough they'll squabble over power between them and fall apart. They'll burn themselves out, I’ve seen it happen a hundred times."

"Then why can't you stay?"

"Because I don't want to give them anything that could be construed as a... reason to depose me," Merlin answered carefully, crossing the line between side stepping and lying.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arthur asked, brow creasing in a frown.

"Nothing, nothing," Merlin said quickly, leaning down to give him a quick kiss. "Like I said... weakness."

"When will I see you then?" Arthur asked, lingering in the kiss, his hope depressing Merlin.

"I don't know," Merlin said honestly. "Give me a few more weeks?"

"Merlin, the only reason I keep this company is for you, if I can't-"

"I know," Merlin said. "I promise, this will blow over. I just need to... let it."

"Alright," Arthur said begrudgingly, taking on his business tone. "See that it does."

"Thank you," Merlin said, leaning down to press another quick kiss to his lips. "I should go."

Arthur stood, walking with him to the lift. He pressed the button for down and it glowed red rather than the old green, making Merlin chuckle to himself. "That's new."

"I have to keep myself amused somehow," Arthur said with a shrug.

Merlin felt the urge to stay hit him even stronger, like a punch to the gut. Like his insides had decided to stay even if the rest of him left. He took Arthur's hand in his own, a completely uncharacteristic show of affection for any demon, and squeezed it. "I'll come back soon."

"I know," Arthur said, smiling reassuringly. "I get it. Honestly."

Merlin nodded and let go of his hand. It was time to go. He stepped backwards into the lift, pressing seven, determined to hold Arthur's eyes until the doors closed. That was until they actually started closing, then he found himself yanked forward by the strip of red silk around his neck masquerading as a tie. He flung out his hands to stop the doors closing and fell onto Arthur's lips which had been the prat's intention all along. Merlin didn't fight the kiss though, he'd be mad to; Arthur was kissing him like he might never see him again. Which if he kept near strangling him with the tie would be a fair assessment.

Merlin barely pulled away, breathing heavily, his lips still brushing Arthur's. "You're going to be the death of me, you know that?"

"Why, do you think your enemies saw us?" Arthur asked stepping back dutifully, breaking the kiss far more effectively than Merlin had been able to.

"No, you nearly took my bloody head off!" Merlin pulled his tie loose, though he couldn’t excuse his breathlessness as lack of oxygen even if he tried.

"So? You're not human, what are you worried about? Would you grow two in its place or something like that, like the one in Hercules?"

"Something like that," Merlin said, swallowing nervously. He hated lying to Arthur, even by omission, but he couldn't tell Arthur everything. He was a human. Demons didn't trust humans with their deep dark secrets and their biggest vulnerabilities, it just wasn't done. No matter how fond you were of the human. And he was fond of this one, more so than he cared to admit. He’d been doing this silly back and forth for five years, that’s how fond he was of him.

"I thought you needed to go," Arthur reminded him.

"I do," Merlin said, breaking eye contact with him, he hadn't even realised he was staring. But he couldn't leave, even if he tried. "You're going to need to let go of my tie."

Arthur looked down at it, letting it go. "Oh right. Yes, sorry."

Merlin smiled and stepped back. This time, the doors closed unimpeded, leaving Merlin grinning at his own reflection for a second before he let it drop. A part of him hated coming, it was much easier not to think about Arthur when he wasn’t left with a fresh imprint of him on his mind but another piece of him wished he could just pull him into the lift and take him home forever.

It didn’t work like that though. Mortals in Hell were still mortal. They still breathed and slept and ate and died. It was more akin to keeping a pet than it was having a relationship. Because demons didn’t have relationships, Merlin reminded himself. Only the royals procreated and even if it was a romantic thing, which it certainly wasn’t, he would be expected to settle down with someone of his own kind. Which he wasn’t about to do.

He vaguely remembered feeling like this as a human, the horrible need to be with someone else but he’d been so free of humanity for so long, he didn’t know if he really felt it or just an echo of what he should feel. _Shouldn’t_ feel.

Merlin closed his eyes, rubbing his hand over them as the lift clanged to a dangerous sounding stop, crossing dimensions. He’d rather take the upstart demons, they were easier.

-x-

Merlin had barely gotten through the doors to his quarters when George informed him that Morgana was waiting. He had a look in his eyes like a startled deer and Merlin couldn't help but notice the state of his clothes, covered in blood. Perhaps the coup had sorted itself out already. That'd be a bit of luck.

"Are you alright, George?" Merlin asked, half hoping for a confession.

"Quite alright, General," George lied. Merlin shrugged, so long as it was over, he didn't care if it was ever mentioned again.

"Show her in then," Merlin commanded.

George nodded and opened a door to one of the antechambers.

"Twice in one day, what's brought this on?" Merlin asked, curious and a little bit worried.

But Morgana didn't answer; she just started unbuckling her sword belt. When she started on the buttons of her dress, Merlin's eyes flew wide. "George, out! What the hell are you doing, Morgana?"

"George, in!" Morgana overrode him, slipping her dress from her shoulders, revealing two long stripes of dried blood down the back of it. "Calm down. I only want this cleaned... now."

She handed the soiled dress to George and Merlin coughed, noticing matching, brighter bloodstains on her white slip.

Morgana looked over her shoulder and sighed. "Oh, for the love of... lend me a shirt or something, will you?”

"Of course," Merlin said, trying his best not to smile. "George, out. Get started on the dress, you can collect the rest later."

George nodded and left without his usual flourish, looking pale and frankly, sick.

Merlin moved into the next room, fetching a red shirt and some black trousers for Morgana to borrow. He'd intended to change into them himself but given the circumstances, it could wait.

When he returned, Morgana was standing in her small clothes, her hair pulled over each shoulder to cover her breasts. She looked somewhat like she should be a painting, if only she was a mermaid with a fish tail.

"You've been at it as well then?" Merlin asked, handing her the clothes and gathering her discarded slip from the floor.

"I don't know what you mean," Morgana denied, buttoning up the shirt and pulling her hair out from under its collar.

"Oh, so it's just a coincidence that both you and George there are covered in blood? I know he was part of the coup."

Morgana eyed him for a moment, glaring. Then she pulled the trousers on before collapsing down on the sofa he received guests on. Really, as she was of higher rank, she should take the chair and he the sofa but when she put her head in her hands, he sat down beside her. This wasn't a formal meeting. It didn't matter who sat where.

"You knew?" Morgana accused him. "You knew all along and you did _nothing_?"

"Of course I knew," Merlin said quietly, putting a comforting hand on her knee, eyes flashing gold momentarily. “I'm not a General for nothing."

"Then why didn't you do anything? It's treachery!" Morgana asked.

"Because if I did then eventually there would be no demons left in all of Hell." Merlin shrugged. "Everyone has come up with a plot at some time or other, it's in our nature. Nothing ever comes of it though because the person they are trying to _trick_ tried it first."

Morgana raised her eyebrows, outraged. "I have never-"

"1206," Merlin cut her short. "Yourself, Nimueh and Kara decided you were going to overthrow Cenred and start the first exclusively female sect."

Morgana frowned, she'd forgotten about that. "That's not the same. That wasn't _you_. And Cenred was a bastard, you know he was."

"He was still a General," Merlin pointed out. "And what came of all your plotting?"

Morgana cast her mind back, frowning. "Nimueh bribed Kara to have me kicked out and then she told that lover of hers, Mordred, about her plans. Nimueh ended up in the Cage, if I remember correctly and Kara and Mordred were banished for conducting a secret, cross-sector relationship without authorisation."

"And what happened to you?" Merlin prompted her, smiling indulgently even though they both knew.

"You gave me a stiff talking to and made me declare against Cenred officially."

"And?"

"And I won, took his place as General," Morgana admitted with a careless shrug like it meant nothing, even though Merlin was right.

"So, what's more dangerous, the children playing at government or the actual government?"

"I'm not so sure we're not all children playing at government," Morgana said sadly. "I killed Cedric."

"He'll bounce back eventually, he's a parasite that one," Merlin muttered.

"No, Merlin, he's _dead_ ," Morgana said, feeling Cedric shift under her skin. Her eyes must have reflected his soul because Merlin jumped back, startled.

"Morgana, you can't have..."

"I didn't intend to, I only meant to find out their plan and tell you of it," Morgana confessed. "I took them to the Other side so we could talk privately but he pulled a knife on me. It was me or him!"

"Alright, alright," Merlin said soothingly, squeezing her knee.

"And it's all very well to say it would have fallen to pieces on its own but that _was_ their plan. Lure you out onto the Other side and kill you, absorb your power. Then they decided I'd do. And then I guess I came back to bite them and now I don't know what to do, Merlin, I'm tainted now..."

"You'll be fine," Merlin dismissed. "And it wouldn't have worked for him either."

"I won't be fine," Morgana protested. "I've always done things properly, with honour. I might have had a few bad ideas over the years but I've never gone through with any of them. I've never stolen someone's _life_. And now I'm marked for everyone to see. And they know I’m highborn."

"You _will_ be fine," Merlin said again. "You can't just kill someone and take their power; it's not like taking their rank. You need to bind their essence to your own... using magic. You're a demon, Morgana, not a witch."

"Oh." Morgana frowned. "What will happen to him then? Or me, rather?"

"It will fade in time," Merlin assured her. "The real problem is that his death will show up in the figures."

Morgana rolled her eyes, if as nearly dying wasn’t enough, now she had to deal with bureaucracy. “I’ll just fiddle them; they have to come through me before they get any further anyway.”

“You can’t do that forever,” Merlin pointed out. “And if you get caught...”

“Yes, yes, I’ll end up court marshalled straight back down to where I started. What then?”

“If you find someone quick, and I mean quick, you could always replace him.”

“Replace him?” Morgana asked, wondering if Merlin meant her demotion or... “You mean _make_ a demon?”

“You have the spare power and you have a warlock,” Merlin said before shrugging. “A former one at least. I’m sure I can remember the old way.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring, Merlin,” Morgana said, completely unconvinced. What if it went wrong? What if she couldn’t find anyone?

“Do you have a better plan?” Merlin asked, getting short with her. “You’re the one running about like the reaper. I had it under control, damn it.”

“Ok!” Morgana snapped back, standing. “I’ll find someone. You brush up on your rituals because this is not worth being turned into a newt over.”

Merlin watched as she left, trying not to let his panic show. If there was an investigation into this... if anyone found out about Arthur, it didn’t bare thinking about.

-x-

There was a short wrap on the door and Arthur could recognise the knocker from that alone. He was still standing, waiting for the lift to return empty so he took a detour via the door on his way back to his desk.

“Leon,” he said, by way of letting him in.

Leon closed the door behind himself and waited with his head bowed until Arthur had taken his seat. “Sir.”

“I asked not to be disturbed,” Arthur said though there was no reprimand in his tone. “But it would seem my call was cut short so please, sit.”

Every time Merlin visited, Arthur would lock the doors a good half an hour before he was due. Just in case. But he also had Leon ensure nobody made it far enough to know that the door was locked. The alibi was always an important conference call but nobody would question him if he claimed he was having a business meeting with the devil himself. Not that Merlin was the devil. Or at least, he’d never said as much. Arthur didn’t like to ask. In all honesty, he didn’t like to think about it too seriously. It was much easier to pretend it was some joke between them even though he knew the truth. Merlin was a demon.

“There have been... disturbances,” Leon said, bringing Arthur’s mind back to Earth.

“Protesters?” Arthur asked. He knew their next deal would spark a great deal of gossip but there was nothing he could do to halt it. He had shareholders to face, just like everybody else.

“PETA, actually,” Leon said, setting down a flyer. “They think we’re responsible for the recent oil spill that nobody owned up to.”

“Are we?” Arthur asked, wincing at the flyer which showed several damning photos of dead animals.

“Not that I know of, sir.” Leon handed him another sheet of paper. “All our vessels are accounted for and checks were run on all of our pipelines in June.”

“Have them checked again,” Arthur instructed, silently vowing to write a cheque later.

“And the activists?” Leon asked.

Arthur tensed his shoulders. He’d like nothing more than to go out there himself and explain that he felt exactly the way they did. Or maybe not as strongly as they felt, he wasn’t about to renounce his leather shoes and steak dinners but he wasn’t a completely heartless bastard like they thought he was. He cared. He wished he could take back every terrible thing that a Pendragon had signed his name to but he couldn’t. He couldn’t stop signing the name either. Pendragon Enterprises had to make its money somehow and right now, money was in oil. His father had seen to it that they owned drills in the North Sea and more than one large refinery in the country. And that was only one questionable way they made money, he didn’t even want to think about all the things they got away with in other countries.

But that was what came with making deals with the devil. Literally.

“Have someone make a statement, someone who’s good with PR. Gwaine, if he’s in,” Arthur decided. “I’ll draft it myself.”

“Very good, sir,” Leon said and Arthur could see that he was relieved that he’d not said he’d make it himself. He’d tried that a lot at first. He’d tried to change the Pendragon image but all it had gotten him was things thrown at him. Eggs, red paint meant to symbolise blood, actual real blood, stones, a small homemade explosive...

It had been Merlin that had made him stop. He’d shown Arthur that no matter how the media – or religions – painted them both, they didn’t actually know anything about them. They didn’t see them as people – which was a bit of a grey area for Merlin as it was – and so they’d never let them change. They’d always perpetuate the image that suited them.

And if he really wanted out, he could give the company up. He knew that already but hearing Merlin say it made it real. The problem with that was Merlin. He’d inherited Merlin along with the company when his father died five years ago. Merlin was like the company’s silent partner. One that didn’t take a cut. He just watched over them, turned fate towards them beneficially, told him which deals to watch and what companies to keep an eye out for. Arthur had once asked what was in it for him but all Merlin would say was it was an _investment_.

Every quarter he asked to see the figures, just like the shareholders did, but he’d never say what he was looking for, he’d only ever nod or shake his head. When he shook his head, a lucrative deal seemed to crop up from nowhere two weeks later. Sometimes a bit shady, sometimes something that looked too good to be true. But Arthur never questioned him. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to know the answer.

He could give up the company; sell all his shares but then what would become of Merlin? Would he let the company drop, possibly into ruin or would Arthur have to explain the deal his father had made to his successor? Not to mention, without the company, Merlin would have no reason to see him. Not that he wouldn’t want to; Merlin had explained several times that things weren’t as simple in Hell as they were on Earth. And thinking that things on Earth were simple made him not want to ask what Merlin’s home was like.

Not that it made him feel particularly better about the life he was stuck in, but he wasn’t ready to let go of Merlin yet. He didn’t know that he’d ever be _ready_ to let go of him, though it would become inevitable one day.

“Leon?” Arthur asked, realising his distraction had driven Leon to think they were done. He caught him just as he was reaching for the door.

“Sir,” Leon said, turning, smoothing down his suit.

“The announcement about Virunga will be posted tomorrow. I know it’s a Saturday but-”

“Of course,” Leon said, not making Arthur complete his plea for help. “If you need me, I’ll be here.”

“Thank you.” Arthur nodded, dismissing Leon.

He’d be right outside the door now until Arthur summoned him again. Getting a bodyguard hadn’t been an easy decision but a rock to the head was a lot more difficult to brush off than egg yolk was and so he’d had to seek help. He’d struck gold with Leon. Not only was he a brilliant bodyguard, he doubled up really well as a stand in personal assistant. Arthur had never liked PAs himself, his father’s one, his Uncle Agravaine, had been insufferable. Never to his father directly but he’d been a right bastard behind their backs and to say it’d knocked his trust in assistants was putting it mildly. It hadn’t exactly done much for his trust in uncles either.

But Leon was good. He was a friend. Loyal to the core and while he didn’t agree with most of the things Arthur had to do, he was the only one that didn’t judge him personally for it. And he was the only one who knew how downright miserable he really was.

-x-

Morgana was sitting on the floor of Hell's archives, surrounded by unstable towers of files. Every soul that had been approached, every person that had been considered. A lot of them were unsuitable, once they made a deal with a demon, they became that demon's property and to make a counter offer now would be poaching. That was if their time hadn't run out already.

There was also the matter of who was watching them, the last thing she needed was another demon sticking their oar in. Not to mention the embarrassment if they were recognised later. It was just easier to take a sneak peek into Merlin's interests, she told herself. It was his idea after all and the soul, the demon they were going to make, would be for his sector.

She set a file down – Pendragon – with a sense of déjà vu. She could swear she'd already read it. Uther, tycoon, ten years of life for ten years of success. What made her look again was the state of the file, creased and dog eared where it had been smooth before.

She flipped it open curiously, finding not Uther but Arthur. No deal. Only interest. She turned a few pages, trying to find the bait. He was his father's son. He'd kept the company, done some back door deals with it by the looks of it. Merlin checked in on him every three months. He must have stakes somewhere. Either that or he really wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps.

Morgana closed the file and hugged it to her chest, her eyes shimmering gold at the thought he was _the one_. Merlin obviously wanted his soul. It was perfect; this whole indiscretion might even be forgotten about if she could snare this Arthur Pendragon for him.

-x-

Dawn had barely broken when Morgana set out for the Other side. London had several portals but she couldn't find one that put her in the same district as Pendragon Enterprises. Which was surprising given Merlin's interest in the boy. Luckily for her, you couldn't throw a high heeled shoe in central London without hitting a tube station and she only had to switch trains twice.

Her high necked dress got her a few stares, its thick velvety texture, lacy collar and cuffs didn't exactly help. It had been a while since she'd checked in on human fashion, to say the least. Now everything was so _tight_ , it was somewhat unsettling. It made the corset she was concealing beneath the dress seem almost casual. She didn't mind the stares though; she could always rip a few eyes out if she did.

It flexed her powers to be out properly. She had to drown out her telepathy and dial back her heightened senses to an almost human level. It took some trickery to get past the guards and she knew it would take a little bit more to get past security at Arthur's offices. Tickets and swipe cards would be the death of her. What happened to simply talking ones way into somebody else's good books?

It was barely nine in the morning when she finally stood outside Arthur's doors but already there was a crowd. It didn't matter to her; it just meant she blended into the background a little easier. She wasn't the only person who shouldn't be there. She had her cover all ready. She was a journalist for The Times. Just reputable enough for them to buy, not reputable enough to be suspect. She was running a story on young business men, a forty under forty if you will. She'd researched names, telephone numbers, addresses. She was Morgana Le Fay, a new but plucky reporter after her first scoop. That's why only one secretary in her department would likely know her name. That's why she'd forgotten to call and confirm. _Silly me, I'm new you see..._ she practised inside her head.

She was rather surprised she got all the way into the elevator before she felt eyes on her. She turned, expecting a guard or a camera at least but she couldn't place what was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She took the elevator on the left hand side of the lobby, feeling oddly drawn to it. She was right to; there was a button that was marked with a dragon crest that matched the company logo. It could only lead to his office. She hit it, taking her chances.

The doors opened out into a penthouse office, fully furnished with sofas and chairs like Arthur might actually live there. She took in the details, so it looked like she'd done her research. A nice couch, so he wasn't a complete uptight arse. He would sit her down. A few paintings on the walls, Jackson Pollack and some Banksy inspired prints, so he was out to prove he was _different_. The lighting was low, informal, but then, he wasn't expecting anyone. The desk was old, there long before he was. And a portrait hung behind it, the former Pendragon Senior. Uther. The _real_ owner of the company. Arthur didn't want to take it down, even five years after it had changed hands. Obviously he felt like he hadn't lived up to his father's image yet, his expectations. But there was something missing and Morgana couldn't help but be annoyed. Where was Arthur?

She strolled over to his desk, the chunky heels of her Mary Janes clacking against expensive wooden floor boards. His calendar was set to Friday but he hadn't been in yet to change it. It was Saturday.

"Damn it," she muttered to herself. It wasn't even a working day.

She couldn't help but notice a massive window on his Friday, the start of which began with an M. She wished she'd checked the records more carefully, had Merlin been here yesterday? He hadn't mentioned it to her. Surely given their circumstances, if he'd been in the presence of such a perfect candidate, he would have suggested him.

Her train of thought was derailed when she heard voices. They were quite a way off still but her snooping had set her body on high alert. She couldn't tell if one of the voices belonged to Arthur but the other was calling him _sir_ an awful lot so it wouldn't be too farfetched to imagine it was him. Coming into work on a Saturday. My, my, he was dedicated.

Morgana rushed to the door, slipping out of it. It was better this way. She wouldn't have to start things by explaining why she was already in his office. Or how she’d gotten in there.

Arthur’s secretary was a woman named Guinevere Smith. Morgana had researched her. She’d worked for the company forever and seemed to have worked her way up the ranks in a completely professional manner. Which was rare enough these days. No blackmail, no bribery and no sleeping with the boss so far as she could tell. She didn’t look like the usual woman these types of places hired either. Her hair was a tangle of natural curls and her nail polish was chipped, no doubt applied herself rather than being manicured. Her makeup was minimal, again natural and the scoop neck of her shirt hinted at some serious assets that she wasn’t flaunting. Morgana was impressed. She pulled lose some of her hair from her perfect bun, wanting to strike a chord with the woman.

“Hi there,” she said, leaning on the desk and tapping away with her fingertips on the glass. She hoped to look like she’d been waiting at least a few seconds and therefore couldn’t have possibly just snuck out of Arthur’s office. Her boss. Mr Pendragon. “I hope I’m not too early.”

Guinevere – nametag _Gwen_ – looked her up and down before frowning. “Late for... what exactly?”

“I’m Arthur’s half nine,” Morgana said, hoping half an hour hadn’t passed since she’d come through the doors. “Did I forget to call up? I’m so sorry; I’ve not been doing this very long... Morgana Le Fay, The Times.”

“Arthur doesn’t see anybody out of work hours. Are you sure you’ve got the right day?” Gwen asked her, clicking a few times on a computer mouse. “You’re not on the system.”

Morgana bit her lip. She hated computers. She hated technology. And she hated having to use her powers on innocent humans.

“Guinevere,” she said to get the woman’s attention. “Gwen, may I call you Gwen?”

“Of course,” Gwen said but her voice was hesitant. She had her eye, now she just had to hold it.

“I need you to keep looking at me, there’s a darling.”

Morgana could feel gold swirl through her eye but she knew better than to blink now. Usually her eyes should darken, the pupil expanding to draw the gaze of the human in. It was a simple trick. Romantic humans would describe it as drowning in the eyes of their beloved. It was basic hypnotism really.

“Put me on the system. Morgana Le Fay. Nine Thirty. Add whatever security clearance is needed.”

Gwen nodded, her hands moving to type even though her gaze couldn’t break from Morgana’s.

“Good, thank you, Gwen,” Morgana said, casting her eyes down and freeing her. “I’m sure if you check again, you’ll find me.”

Gwen blinked slowly, as if waking up from a dream and turned back towards the computer screen. “Oh yes. There you are. How odd.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure he was just busy every other day,” Morgana said, tapping the desk with the flat of her hand and stepping back. “May I?”

“Mr Pendragon has yet to arrive,” Gwen said, gesturing to some clear plastic chairs behind Morgana. “If you could take a seat though, I’m sure he won’t be long.”

Morgana did her best to smile accommodatingly and sat herself down on one of the chairs. She missed the days of chaise lounges something terrible.

From her vantage point, she could see the door to Arthur's office and every possible way to get into there, except for the way she came in. Surely Arthur and his companion couldn't have been _too_ far off when she'd heard them. They should have passed her by now or at least crossed her line of sight but nothing. Unless they took the lift. If they took the lift she was done for, she'd have to get back through the door to speak to him.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the phone rang and Gwen eyed her carefully again. Morgana didn't need to eavesdrop to know she was being rejected. Gwen put the phone down and smiled at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry Miss Le Fay, Mr Pendragon has cancelled all appointments for today," Gwen said over the desk. "Perhaps if you could reschedule to a more convenient time for you both."

Morgana sighed and smoothed down the skirt of her dress, fingers leaving an outline on the velvet. She stood, sauntering over to the desk like she intended to take Gwen up on the offer.

"Gwen, dear, look at me again," Morgana said, approaching the desk. She was fairly thankful nobody else was waiting; people might start to talk what with them staring into each other’s eyes so frequently. "Let me go through, please."

"Of course," Gwen answered, starting to rise from her seat.

"It’s fine, I know my way, you stay here," Morgana instructed, holding up her hand until Gwen had settled back down again. "In fact, close your eyes and count to twenty for me."

Gwen closed her eyes and Morgana headed for Arthur's door, the sound of Gwen's counting fading into the background. She tried the handle and got nothing. Arthur had obviously locked it since she'd been in. Now that was interesting. Interesting and a little annoying.

"Better make that a hundred, Gwen," Morgana shouted back to her, pulling a bobby pin from her hair. Gwen would probably have a key but her sway over the woman worked best if she only had to focus on one thing. And she'd learned how to pick locks before people actually made a habit of locking doors. It wouldn't take a moment.

She slid the pin into the lock, feeling for the mechanism, leaning her ear against the door, waiting for a click. The mechanism clicked and the lock sprung and for a second, she was pleased. Then she realised it hadn't been her handy work.

The door swung open and she fell forward, half through the door, onto her hands. "Devil damn it."

"I beg your pardon?" A voice asked her. Stern, upright, not to be toyed with.

"I said, _God damn it_ ," Morgana corrected, knowing humans didn't tend to take her lord's name in vain, but rather their own.

She cast her eyes up, following the black leg of some rather nice trousers up to an equally nice suit jacket, up to an even nicer face. Stern, true but loyalty and nobility shone through him and she half saw a lion rather than a man. A man out of time, to be sure. He should be writing romantic poetry or saving girls from wolves in the woods.

"Arthur?" She asked, quite unable to believe it. This couldn't be the soul she'd read about. His was a good soul, if a little misplaced. She couldn't imagine him ever doing anything that would be questionable to his morals.

"Is not seeing anyone," he said, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Ah," Morgana said, feeling more assured now that he wasn't the one she was after. Just a little snag in her plan. She could still snare the soul she was after; she just had to get past this one first. "So you're not he then?"

"No, I am not," Leon said, frowning, obviously fighting two warring instincts. Duty and chivalry. His noble heart won out and he extended a hand. "Let me assist you."

Morgana fought the urge to refuse his help. She hated being looked down upon, thought of as weak but it would do her well to get on his good side. "Thank you, kind sir. And Sir what I wonder?"

"Leon," he answered, slightly stiffly, as if he shouldn't give his name to passing strangers.

" _Leon_ ," Morgana repeated, smiling to herself. How fitting. A true lion.

"And you are?" Leon asked her, turning her so she was facing away from the door, almost starting to lead her away from it.

Morgana stood her ground, staying close to the door. She could see into his eyes now, this was just idle chit chat, she wasn't going anywhere. "Miss Le Fay but please, call me Morgana."

"Miss Le Fay," Leon said, declining the offer of familiarity. "What is your business with Mr Pendragon?"

"I'm a journalist, I'm here to interview him," Morgana answered, holding up a pen she'd swiped from Gwen's desk.

"Mr Pendragon doesn't speak to journalists," Leon said, trying to lead her away again.

Morgana rolled her eyes. People were no fun anymore, not when their strings had to be pulled. "Leon, darling, look at me a moment?"

Leon was a gentleman and of course, on her command he stopped and looked at her, expecting a tirade of excuses no doubt. But she didn't need them.

"I've already checked in with his secretary, I'm in his diary, I'm sure he will speak to me," Morgana said, covering all her bases.

"I'm sorry, he makes a rule not to talk to the press," Leon said, his voice his own, not touched by her hypnotism. "An official statement will be made on his behalf at noon, if you'd like to wait outside."

"What?" Morgana asked, completely thrown, her confusion making her angry. "Did you hear me? I said he'll see me now. Just let me in."

"I can't do that," Leon denied her, taking her arm and starting to pull her away from Arthur's office by force.

"I command you! Let me in that office!" Morgana said, yanking herself free of him. What the hell was going on? Never had she failed to hypnotise someone before. It was easy, a basic power given to even the lowest demons. She couldn't snag a soul that way or influence a deal but she sure as hell should be able to get through a damned door.

"I'm sorry, Miss, I can't do that," Leon insisted and made to take her by the arm again.

"How dare-" she stared but she didn't get to finish. The words were knocked out of her, along with the wind, as she felt herself being lifted off the ground and slung over this man's shoulder. So much for honour. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"I'm sorry, you give me no choice," Leon said, carrying her over to the main lifts, the ones on the right hand side of the building. No access to Arthur’s office in those ones.

"Call security or something, you have no right to cart me off like a caveman!" Morgana shouted. "Though you act like one!"

"I am security, Miss." He pushed the button for the lift and Morgana aimed a kick into the backs of his legs but he still didn’t put her down.

Morgana rolled her eyes again. “That still gives you no right! Do you know who I am?”

“Miss Le Fay, posing as a reporter. I don’t doubt you did your research but I’ve seen enough of your kind to know the difference.”

That silenced her. How the Hell could he _know_ about her kind? Though it would go a way to explaining why he was immune to her powers. The lift dinged and the doors slid open but she wasn’t even fighting anymore when he set her down. If anything, she was a bit unsteady on her heels and would rather have been carried.

“I’ll ride down with you to escort you out,” Leon informed her. “Can I trust you to walk?”

“Yes,” Morgana said, clinging onto the mirrored wall. “Yes, fine.”

She watched the neon numbers crawl down as the lift descended, each one making her feel a little sicker. There was only one thing that came from a human truly knowing about demons and that was death. She needed a convert, to be sure, but trading her own life hadn't exactly been what she had in mind.

"How did you know?" she asked, swallowing down her fear. Perhaps a deal could still be made. She had been so sure of his good heart but then, she supposedly didn't have a heart herself, how would she know?

"You're not the first," Leon informed her. "We get your lot sneaking about all the time, posing as delivery people, job applicants, journalists," he inclined his head towards her as he said it. "We even had one impersonate a stripper once, pretending to be a birthday present for him."

Morgana raised her eyebrows. She'd known Merlin was interested but she couldn't imagine him in a leopard print g-string, no matter how interested he was.

"But I'm not easily fooled," he continued, making Morgana grimace at the reminder that her powers were useless. "I can see an activist a mile off."

Morgana was half nodding before she realised what he'd said. "An activist? You mean like the ones outside?"

"We've had trouble in the past," Leon said, not noticing her confusion and frankly, relief.

"You think I'm one of them?" Morgana asked again.

"Don't tell me you're not, I've heard every excuse and threat imaginable."

"I am _not_ an activist. I assure you the fate of fluffy bunnies don’t mean a thing to me," Morgana protested even though she wasn't sure why she was angry. Leon's presumption had been a lot safer than the truth. She supposed it was the snap judgement that bothered her. Though again, the truth wasn't much better.

"If you insist, Miss," Leon indulged her.

"I do insist," Morgana said, crossing her arms and scowling. Leon seemed unmoved so she nudged the back of his calf with her shoe, getting dust on his perfect trousers. "If I'm the devil incarnate, why are you even talking to me?"

Leon turned and looked her up and down again, this time with softer eyes. "You didn't spit in my face, you didn't swear at me, you aren't carrying anything dangerous or explosive and you haven't claimed my ham sandwich is murder. You're not so bad," Leon decided.

Morgana blushed, she'd meant to be outraged and claim a lady didn't do such things but the compliment - if it was a compliment - caught her off guard. "People actually do that; accuse you of murdering a sandwich?"

She giggled at the idea and to her surprise, Leon laughed as well. The moment was ruined by the lift coming to a halt and an automated voice declaring that they had reached the first floor.

Leon took her arm and while she wanted to say it was unnecessary, that she wouldn't make a fuss, she actually didn't mind the warmth of his hand now that he wasn't gripping deathly tight. He'd stopped seeing her as a threat at least.

He led her right to the big imposing double doors and she found herself hesitating, wanting to clear her name. "I'm really not one of _them_."

Leon looked at her a long moment and then shrugged. "Either way, you can't be in here."

"Fine, I'm going," she said, taking her arm back and pushing through the door herself.

She'd not made it two steps before she was stopped. Not by Leon's hand or his voice as she'd hoped but a cold wet wave of thick liquid. It only took one sniff to realise what it was.

"Miss, are you alright?" came Leon's voice too late to be a comfort.

"Urgh, that's the second time this week this dress has ended up covered in blood," she muttered to herself. “I’m going to have to get a new one.”

"Pardon?"

"I told you I wasn't one of them," she said, eyes slightly wild from the smell of blood so soon after...

"I'll get you back inside," Leon offered. "We'll clean you up."

Morgana sighed but let herself be steered back through the doors. To her great disappointment she wasn't led back up to Arthur's office but rather a small board room to one side. With a sense of weariness, she unbuttoned her dress again as Leon slid the sign to occupied. He averted his eyes and slipped off his jacket, handing it to her, swapping it for the dress.

"It's insanity really," she mused aloud, "you think I'm one of them and they think I'm one of you when the truth is: I'm neither."

"Who are you then?" Leon asked, courtesy abandoned in favour of honest curiosity.

"I'm Morgana." She held out her hand to him. "Nice to meet you."

-x-

Merlin nervously pressed the button for Arthur’s office, working out what he was going to say. He needed him, just while this storm in a teacup was brewing. He needed something stable and safe and despite his better judgement, that was Arthur. The doors opened and he found himself face to face with Arthur's quirked eyebrows.

"I know you said you'd be back soon, Merlin, but frankly this is taking the piss... it’s not even been a whole day yet."

Merlin shrugged, going for carelessness. "I missed you a bit," he admitted.

"Just a bit?" Arthur pressed, pulling Merlin bodily out of the lift.

"The coup went down. Badly. I lost a demon, my Commander’s gone off the deep end. It's been a long night," Merlin said, the words spilling out as he relaxed into Arthur’s arms.

"But you're alright?" Arthur asked, burying his face into Merlin’s neck.

"Yes, I'm fine," Merlin answered quickly so Arthur didn't worry. "For the moment at least."

Arthur nodded, pulling back and looking him up and down as if to make sure. "So what happened?"

"I can't really say," Merlin said, stepping away from Arthur so he wouldn’t feel compelled to spill his guts or hug him again.

Now he'd touched him, held him for a moment, he felt substantially better and infinitely worse. Humans weren't even supposed to know demons were real. Arthur got a pass because of the deal his father had struck but should he ever fall into the wrong hands, he knew _way_ too much already.

"Come on, let's do something," Merlin offered. "Get a drink or something."

"It's quarter past ten," Arthur said, raising his eyebrows.

"It's fine, I haven't eaten yet, we'll get a late dinner or something."

"...In the morning," Arthur added.

"Oh." Merlin frowned and glanced out the window, the mid-morning sunlight assaulting his eyes. "Liquid breakfast then?"

"Bit early, isn't it?" Arthur asked but changed his mind upon seeing Merlin's face. "Though don't mind me, help yourself."

Arthur gestured over to the table that held his assortment of fine, vintage alcohol. He wasn't much of a day drinker himself but every business meeting passed a bit easier if it was there to offer. He watched as Merlin poured himself a drink, not stopping to look at what it was and downed it, not even wincing at the burn. But then Merlin was invulnerable, a stiff drink shouldn't phase him.

"Wait, I thought you were immortal?" Arthur asked, following his train of thought.

"I am," Merlin said, waving a hand to dismiss the thought.

"Then how did your friend die?"

"It's complicated," Merlin said, pouring another drink. "And he wasn't my friend. He was under my command. Like you and the thirteen floors below you."

"Twelve," Arthur corrected, "I don't _command_ the lobby."

"Ah yes, those card scanners are a law unto themselves," Merlin joked with a wry smile.

“Eleven actually,” Arthur said frowning, “I think technically you command floor seven.”

Merlin bobbed his head, giving him that one. "Shall we do lunch then, as it's early?"

Merlin was halfway to pouring himself a third drink when Arthur delicately took the decanter away from him. "Merlin, you don't eat. Or drink, for that matter. Why are you so keen to leave?"

"I don't want to _leave_ leave," Merlin said, glancing towards the lift doors, the constant reminder of where he should be. "I just want to get away for a bit. With you."

"Merlin..." Arthur started and Merlin could feel the no coming before Arthur said it. "The boards post the decision on Virguna today. I need to be here in case."

"If you want the wildlife park, I can get you the wildlife park," Merlin said, his fingers tapping away at the glass tabletop now he couldn't occupy his hands with the scotch.

"I don't-" Arthur started, before remembering what tied Merlin to him. The company and all the awful things it did. The things he had to pretend he was ok with. "I mean, it's not that simple. If we don’t get it the shareholders will want my head and if we do get it, them outside will want my head."

Merlin stopped tapping, everything in him stilling with a clarity that he had to face. "And if I go home right now, they'll want my head."

Arthur swallowed because in Merlin's home, that wasn't an empty threat. He closed the gap between them, taking Merlin's face in one hand, his thumb brushing over his cheekbone. It honestly wasn't fair that a demon should look like each line of his face was sculpted by heaven.

"Then we'll camp in here," Arthur suggested. "Leon can bring us food; we've got the TV and the sofa. That free trial for Netflix you got me never seems to run out, we may as well use it."

Merlin glanced over to the sofa and nodded. "Yeah, I can live with that."

-x-

Morgana sat and waited for her dry cleaning to be done, wearing just her corset and petticoats. And Leon's jacket, of course. Leon himself came and went, called away on urgent business every five minutes. But he always came back. Surprising really since she never actually asked him to stay. He could have palmed her off on any member of staff and been rid of her hours ago.

He also apologised for the delay, they ran a skeleton crew on a Saturday and housekeeping was deemed a luxury outside of the standard nine to five. Morgana claimed she didn't mind, it wasn't like she had anywhere to be going. And it was true to an extent. Yes, she was annoyed he’d blocked her from getting to Arthur but she didn't mind sitting with him now, listening to his stories, all the weird and wonderful things he'd seen in his line of work. For Morgana, nothing could beat being told your lunch was third degree murder.

There would be other days, other opportunities. Other souls even, if things got really desperate. The world was full of bastards and liars and cheats, finding a decent man was the harder task.

Not that she was looking for a man, decent or otherwise. She was just looking for a soul to trade, to upgrade, pro bono. This really was more about Merlin than it was about her. Meeting Leon was just a lucky happenstance. A nice way to pass the morning before she returned to the depths of Hell.

There was a swift knock at the door, identical to the six knocks before it. She was starting to learn this human, like one might learn arithmetic. "Come in, Leon."

Leon opened the door, showing Morgana her dress, draped over one arm. She reached out to take it back, a little disappointed that it was spotlessly clean.

Leon dropped his gaze again as she dressed, even though she'd been sat, bold as brass, in her undergarments not a moment before hand.

"I'm ravenous, did you fancy lunch somewhere?" Morgana offered.

She didn't know _why_ she said it, she certainly wasn’t hungry. Besides, she was a commander and a royal one at that. She did not court strange men. It was forbidden for a start, bloodlines and purity and all that. She just decided she wasn't ready to be rid of him yet.

"I can't," Leon said, the tinge of regret stopping Morgana from going into a hurricane of denial. "I do have to do _some_ work today."

"Never mind," Morgana said, opting for a little denial anyway. "It was silly, forget I asked."

She looked down, focusing on the buttons of her dress instead of looking at him. She cursed herself for being so stupid, for letting herself be caught up in the _romance_ of it all.

"I can't do lunch but I would love to take you for dinner, if you’ll allow me?" Leon asked, despite what she’d said.

Morgana looked up sharply, searching his face for any reason she should say no. It was after all, partly her idea. Seeing nothing but a reserved, shy yet hopeful smile, she let herself nod.

"That sounds perfect," she agreed.

"Come back here, around seven then?" Morgana nodded and he took her hand, leading her toward the doors. “Only this time you have permission, you don't have to break in.”

“As long as you promise not to carry me all the way to dinner,” Morgana laughed, although there was a strong possibility she would sooner or later break into these exact offices and he very well might be the one to find her. She shouldn’t really be joking about it.

“I promise.”

He surprised her again as he walked her to the same-double doors. She expected a handshake or something. What she did not expect was him to take her hand, bring it up to his lips and kiss it. The gesture reminded her of old-timey demon's, like Merlin.

"Until tonight?" Leon confirmed and she nodded.

"Tonight." Morgana let go of his hand, lamenting the loss of contact and facing two simultaneous crises - one was what the Hell had she gotten herself into. The other was what the Hell was she going to wear.

-x-

 

Morgana spent the rest of the day getting ready. She knew she was a bit behind humanity - what they were wearing these days told her that - and she needed to brush up on her facts. Arthur's company was hated; she’d known that already. And Leon, he was Arthur's bodyguard because apparently Arthur needed one. She also learned he'd been born and lived his whole life not five minutes down the road from where he worked. He was quite literally home grown. Morgana doubted he'd ever seen what the rest of the world had to offer or he wouldn't still be living under the shadow of a dirty great tower block.

He had a handful of friends on Facebook but his relationship status was set to single and there were no girls leaving him flirtatious messages on his wall which was a promising sign. He was friends with Arthur. That was a difficult sign to divine. Who befriended their boss when they worked for such an arsehole of a firm?

Arthur was also marked down as single and so far as she could tell, none of his friends were family and there were no pictures from family events, not like on Leon's page. That was good. The more unattached he was, the easier it would be to sneak him off this dimension and into hers. If only she could speak to him.

She set herself up a page, hoping she could explain her complete lack of information and friends to Leon as her being new to the whole social media thing. It's not like it was a lie. Hell was old school. They didn't have broadband yet.

She added Leon as a friend and made herself a list of all the things humans supposedly couldn't live without, at least based on advertising, and went shopping. She picked herself up a new dress – just because she didn't want to tempt fate into making her get blood on hers for a third time – some basic make up and a mobile phone. She didn't know how to use it for the life of her, she'd just about managed the computer in the library but she sweet talked the boy selling it to her to program in a few necessary details just in case. Fake phone numbers of pretend friends, a few photos from the internet to make it look like she'd been places, a few reminders in the calendar for appointments she didn't have. Just in case it fell into curious hands.

She almost wished she'd done this earlier, it was so much easier to conjure up an identity using technology than lies, it would seem. Not that she _wanted_ to lie to Leon but he didn't give her any choice. If he'd fallen for her tricks... if he'd simply let her in Arthur's office... well she'd be home by now with one freshly made demon and all her worries would be over. And she wouldn't have this date to feel nervous about.

Not that she was nervous, she told herself. She was demon, something so inanely human as dating shouldn't worry her. It was a means to an end. She'd find out what she needed to know, gain the trust of Arthur's bodyguard and get herself close to him that way. By getting close to Leon first. It wasn't like she had... feelings. She wasn't capable of them. It was as simple as that.

Whatever she was feeling had nothing to do with him, she was sure. It wasn't that he made her laugh or that his smile made her blush. The fact she was glaring at the digitalised clock display on her phone, urging it to go faster, had nothing to do with Leon. Neither did the shade of lipstick she'd picked out. Or the dress, cut at the knee and tight as was the fashion now rather than floor length and flowing, like she was used to.

None of it was because of Leon... and yet, she couldn't say what it _was_ for if not him.

-x-

"I should go," Merlin admitted reluctantly.

Arthur was half asleep in his lap, Chinese take away trays littered the floor around them and they'd made it through more episodes of _Suits_ than he cared to admit. But it had been nearly eight hours and he had to check on Morgana, see if she'd made any progress with their little problem. He knew if Arthur asked him why in that very moment, he'd explain everything. He was just too comfortable and warm and _tired_ to lie.

Luckily for him, Arthur just nodded sleepily and sat up just long enough to let Merlin stand before collapsing back down on the sofa. Merlin knew he'd be there all night; probably well into the morning, if he didn't take him home now.

"Come on, you're coming with me," Merlin muttered, dragging Arthur up on his feet.

"To Hell?" Arthur asked him blearily and Merlin laughed, if only. If only that was what Arthur wanted, how much simpler things could be. Arthur could live forever; they could be together... forever. Not in a creepy way, just in a safe, knowing neither of them were going to drop dead of a heart attack kind of way.

"To your place," Merlin said, letting the idea go. He patted down Arthur's pockets, fishing out a mobile phone from one of them. After a quick search – Arthur had an app for just about everything – he pulled up the number of a taxi firm and reeled off the address to the woman on the other end of the phone. "Do you want a coffee before we go?"

"No, m'fine, just give me a minute," Arthur muttered.

"Do you need to do anything? Lock up, set alarms, close the door?" Merlin asked, keeping a steady hand on Arthur as he stumbled out into the hallway.

"You close the door," Arthur instructed, his ability to boss people about seemingly unaffected by his tiredness. "I have people to do the rest."

"Right." Merlin nodded, pulling the door closed. "Let's take the stairs. That should wake you up a bit."

They made it four flights before Arthur tripped over his own feet but it woke him up. Merlin caught him before he did himself any real damage. He wouldn't have let him fall, not really. The other levels passed by in a concentrated silence. When they were out of the doors, Arthur turned to him. The taxi was already waiting.

"You don't have to go back," Arthur suggested. "They haven't missed you all day, what's a night?"

"I wish I could," Merlin said, holding out his arm for Arthur to use as an anchor as he got into the black cab. "You have no idea."

"Then do it," Arthur persisted. "You're a demon, just tell them to shove it or you'll pull their eyes out through their nose or something."

"Ew. Why would I do that?" Merlin said, pulling a face. He'd seen some things in his time, done some terrible things himself, but nothing beat the human imagination. "Even if I wanted to, I can't. I have a boss and if I get in trouble, she gets in trouble. You remember when your father had you intern for the IT department when Gwaine infected all those computers with viruses because he'd been watching porn at work... it's like that."

"There's porn in Hell?"

"What? No..." Merlin rolled his eyes, trying not to imagine them being pulled out through his nose. "She's responsible for me. If I go down, she goes down. So I have to go back. Make sure things are still running smoothly."

"Alright, I get it," Arthur gave in, leaning up to kiss him before sitting back in his seat. "Night, Merlin."

"Night, prat," Merlin said in return, slamming the car door before Arthur could come up with a better insult.

He knew it was the catastrophe that had gone down at home the other day but he couldn't help but feel insecure. He and Arthur were skating on thin ice, they always had been but now it felt like it was melting. If he did the wrong thing or said the wrong thing... if he stepped in the wrong place, they'd both be sucked under. And he wasn't even sure he knew what that meant for them. Probably death for Arthur, which would be easy compared to what they'd do to him.

He trudged back up the stairs, cursing himself for getting so attached. He had never meant to see Arthur as anything more than Uther's annoying son who was always being dragged into their meetings against his will so that he might _learn_ something. Merlin had never meant to see him as a person, as a lover, as whatever the Hell he was to him now. And the moment he did feel something like that, he should have been smart enough to sever all ties with him or at the very least, cart him back to Hell to live in service of him. But he hadn't. He thought he could handle it. What an idiot.

He pushed the button for seven, staring at his reflection in the mirrored surface of the lift doors. He had never meant to fall in love. He hadn't known he was capable of it... what an idiot.

-x-

It was just getting dark as Morgana approached the building. She couldn't help glancing at the names of the side streets, trying to find the one Leon lived on. She couldn't exactly ask and none of her powers worked on him, which made it all the harder for her.

She crossed her arms over her body, it was a warm summer night and she didn't feel the cold, not even if she was in subzero conditions. But the dress was smaller than she was used to and tight as a corset, walking through an open square in it made her feel exposed on just about every level.

She was glad to get through the doors when she reached them. The building was near enough empty and the thought struck her how easy it would be to sneak up now, while nobody was here. But then, if nobody was here, it probably meant Arthur wasn't there either. Maybe she should try to catch him at home but for all her online research, she couldn't pin down a real address for him. Obviously Leon's security measures extended way past his LinkedIn profile.

She picked a spot, not too near either lift; she didn't want Leon to think the same things she'd been thinking. Instead she waited opposite the barriers, so that when Leon came through, he'd see her straight away and his mind would be put at ease.

She resisted the urge to check her makeup, more difficult given that almost every surface was reflective. She ran a hand over her hair, checking it was still in place. She told herself this was a great plan, her master plan and that she wasn't nervous. How could she be when it wasn't a proper date? Demons didn't go on dates. They just took what they wanted, no candles, no Coldplay, no kissing in a rain storm.

Thinking about Hell made her shiver and not from the amount of skin she had exposed to the air conditioning. She hadn't gone home yet. She couldn't face telling Merlin her first attempt had been a disaster, foiled by a human. Hell didn't handle failure well.

She sighed, rubbing her forehead because her makeup meant she couldn't rub her eyes. She'd been trying to do the right thing, how was she to know that Merlin had an agenda of his own? Especially as he had chosen not to share his plan with her. She pinched the bridge of her nose, another safe place to touch.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

Morgana looked up, catching Leon's worried look before he could smooth it out.

"Yes, sorry," Morgana said, smiling and doing her best to smooth out her own features. "Bit of a headache," she lied, "I took something for it though, so I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Leon asked, his hand gently taking her shoulder. "If you are unwell..."

"I feel better already." Morgana squeezed the hand on her shoulder before removing it, keeping hold of it. She was holding his hand, quite by accident but it felt _good_ and she didn't want to let go. "And you don't need to call me Miss; I'm not a true lady. Morgana is just fine."

Leon looked at her, a mix of confusion and amusement and Morgana realised she'd mis-stepped somewhere, said the wrong thing.

"What I mean is, you don't need to be formal with me."

"As you wish, Morgana," he said and even though he'd not called her Miss, the formal tone was still present, ever the gentleman.

"I do wish, Leon," Morgana said, her fingers tapping nervously against his knuckles. She'd been still too long; she'd been holding his hand all this time, while they just stood. "Shall we get going?"

"Of course," Leon agreed, starting towards the door. Morgana couldn't help but smile to herself when he gripped her hand a little tighter rather than dropping it.

"What did you have planned?" Morgana asked, as Leon pulled the door and held it open for them both.

"I thought I'd see what you felt like doing before making plans," Leon answered, looking around the square. "Where to, my lady?"

Morgana looked around, trying to remember places of interest from her research. Sharing a meal was traditional. "I think there's an Italian restaurant nearby."

"Ah, the lady likes pizza?"

Morgana smiled. She remembered pizza from her last trip, a miracle creation of bread, tomato and cheese. "What lady doesn't?"

Leon laughed and pulled her towards the north east corner of the square. "Then pizza we shall have."

Morgana nodded, following him, trying not to focus on the way his hand was pulling her along like now they were connected; there was no thought of ever letting go.

She swallowed, hoping to swallow down these foreign feelings. She couldn't explain it but something about him made her want to smile and laugh and run through the square holding hands. It was pure and utter madness but just thinking about it made her heart beat a little faster.

The Italian restaurant was small and quaint, lovely really. It was the kind of place where the low lighting made everything seem to glow and there were candles in empty wine bottles. "It's beautiful."

"Wait until you taste their pizza. It's thin crust, stone-baked heaven."

Morgana's stomach tightened at the term, it was strange that humans knew all about heaven and hell and angels and demons but then, they didn't really _know_ anything at all. For example, he had no clue that he would be sharing ‘thin crust, stone-baked heaven’ with an actual real demon. The thought twisted in her gut, like a knife. Tricking people using her powers was so much easier, so much less personal than lying to them.

They were shown to a table in the corner and he dragged her chair out for her, holding it while she sat and pushing it in again. It was an odd custom, she was perfectly capable of seating herself, she wasn't a child, but at the same time, she rather liked it. Nobody would dare presume to touch her chair back home, let alone push it around with her still on it.

"Do you do this often?" Morgana found herself wondering out loud. "Meet strange women and take them for dinner?"

Leon sat down across from her, taking one of the menus but not looking at it. He was looking at her instead. "Are you strange?"

Morgana let out a huff of air that was half laughter and half her trying to stop herself from spilling the truth. "You wouldn't believe how strange I am."

"I'm sure I would. Try me," Leon dared her, glancing down at the wine list.

Morgana frowned, there were so many things she could say but she couldn't actually say any of them. She tried to remember her last visit here, on the Other side. "I can't stand olive skins."

"That's not strange..." Leon started.

"But I love olives. So I'll sit there and peel them like Cleopatra with a grape," Morgana finished, laughing nervously.

"Alright, that's a little bit _unusual_ perhaps." Leon handed her the wine list and she took it, trying to focus on the small print in the low light and not the fact she was swapping secrets with a human. "I see your olives and I raise you... mashed potatoes. I love potatoes, chips, roast, new, anything... but I can't even look at mash. Freaks me out."

Morgana laughed despite herself. "You can't even look at it?"

"No, if I even know they're in the vicinity..."

"So if I ordered them, you'd have to run for the hills?" Morgana asked, slightly incredulous.

"I wouldn't stop until I hit water," Leon said, cracking a smile. They were joking now. Morgana wished she had something that'd notify her every time they weren't being serious.

"Fine, that's a little bit odd, I'll give you but I..." Morgana searched her brain for something else she could barter with. "I hate feet."

"Weak," Leon said, shaking his head. "Loads of people hate feet. It's when you start to really like them that it becomes weird."

Morgana bit her lip and gave him a mock glare. "Fine. I... I'm a little bit psychic?"

"That's better," Leon agreed. "Can you prove it?"

Morgana huffed. Normally, she could have him clucking like a chicken while reading his innermost thoughts but his mind was impenetrable. She cast around with her senses, inhaling the scents around her, the sounds. "The next waiter that leaves the kitchen will be carrying a seafood Carbonara..."

"Alright, you're on, ma'am," Leon said, looking behind him to see the door to the kitchen. "Winner picks dessert."

"Deal," Morgana said, beaming because just like that, he'd extended their date. Sometimes, one didn't need to read minds; all you needed were the right signs. He was already thinking he wanted to share a cheesecake or something with her. That was a good sign.

The doors opened and out came a bespectacled waiter, carrying a wide, shallow dish on a plate. He wasn't supposed to come their way but Leon waved him over. Normally, she wouldn't have dreamed of distracting someone from their work but the words, "just a moment, sir," were forming in the man's mind and she didn't want this moment to fizzle out. She elbowed the glass of water on the edge of her table a little closer to the edge until it fell. At the sound of breaking glass, the waiter rushed over.

"I'm so sorry, I'm a little clumsy today," she said to the waiter before returning her gaze to Leon, sharing the joke with him. "You wouldn't believe the mess I got myself into earlier."

"That's quite alright, Miss," the waiter said and Morgana smiled even wider. It didn't sound the same as when Leon said it. The waiter bent down to hand her a spare napkin to dry herself with and they both leaned in to inspect the meal he was carrying.

"Mmmm," Morgana said appreciatively. "Seafood Carbonara. Smells lovely. I think I may have some myself.”

"Not for dessert, right?" Leon asked, his eyes sparking with the effort not to laugh.

"No, love, not for dessert. I'll have to give that one some thought."

"I'll look forward to your choice," Leon said, his knee bumping into hers under the table. Was that on purpose? She bumped her knee into his and he laughed, coughing belatedly to cover it.

"I'll send someone to clean this up," the waiter said, sensing that he was somewhat the butt of a joke.

When he was out of earshot, Leon really did laugh.

"What? He didn't come over when you asked, I had to up the stakes..." she explained.

"You really are a menace, aren't you, Miss Morgana?" Leon asked her, his knee bumping into hers again.

"And you know what, _Sir Leon_ , I think you rather like it," Morgana said, bumping him back.

-x-

Merlin couldn't help but feel a bit like a creeping parent as he waited in the dark of Morgana's receiving room. When she'd not been waiting for him when he first got back, he'd been a bit unsettled. Several hours had passed since then and nobody had seen her since before dawn so to say he was worried was Hell's biggest understatement.

This was her responsibility, as awful as casting blame was, and if he'd had his nerves eating away at him all day then damn it, so should she have. She should be sat with him, in the dark, worrying about what they were going to do if this all went to Hell in a hand basket. A singularly apt expression in the circumstances.

She didn't have long before the side effects of killing Cedric faded away - before Cedric faded away - and they couldn't exactly line themselves up another demon to take his place. Not without then needing another convert. And so on until Hell had been completely overhauled. No, they needed to do this while the kill was fresh. And Morgana knew that. So why on Earth had she fucked off all of a sudden?

Merlin bit down on his lip, nobody was meant to say that word. Nobody was meant to think of the Other side as anything other than... other. They couldn't deny it existed but they could pretend it was inferior, not even deserving of a name. Merlin huffed. It did no good; all it did was make it all the more interesting. Really they should give a course to every demon on how utterly monotonous and fruitless life on Earth really was. Humanity wasn't anything to be envied. It was weakness and depression and... Arthur.

The name sprung up unwillingly. Arthur was not an example of the draw of humanity. He was one human. Merlin forced the thought down uncomfortably. He really hated thinking about Arthur when he was here.

"Merlin?" A voice called out into the darkness.

He felt his eyes flash guiltily; they always did when he was caught thinking about Arthur or other difficult topics. It was the constant reminder that he didn't truly belong here either, just like he hadn't belonged on Earth. The Other side. He had to stop calling it by its name. If he slipped aloud... it didn't bear thinking about. So many rules and regulations, he was starting to lose track of the reasons why.

"I know somebody's there!" Morgana shouted suddenly, scaring Merlin half to death... figuratively at least.

"Yes, it's me, sorry!" Merlin said quickly, flipping the switch on Morgana's desk lamp.

"Why didn't you say something? I was attacked by your little warriors not three days ago remember, I’m a little jumpy."

Morgana's eyes glinted gold and the light was reflected back in the metal of a blade. He took her in, trying to work out if he was still angry or merely relieved she was in one piece. Finally he settled on complete and utter bemusement.

"What on-" he cut himself off before he said the word. "What the Hell are you wearing?"

She stashed the knife back in a drawer in the cabinet by the door and shrugged, pulling at the tight, clinging fabric. "It's a dress... or so they tell me."

"What was wrong with your old one?" Merlin asked, no less confused.

"My old one was about 120 years old," Morgana explained. "I had to go shopping, I was getting funny looks."

"From who?" Merlin asked, just about giving up any hope he'd get a proper explanation any time tonight.

"The humans," Morgana said, rolling her eyes at him. "I had to cross over, didn't I? They're not exactly going to come to us and volunteer their souls."

"Oh, right. Yes, you're right," Merlin said, calming. At least she was taking action and hadn't been marched to the Cage. She could have left him a note or something though.

"Mmm," she agreed. "Anyway. I hit a snag. I had the perfect soul picked out but someone got in the way."

"Oh," Merlin said with a slight curiosity at Morgana's idea of perfect but now he knew she was here and safe, he couldn't care less about the details. "Well, be careful."

"I was careful," Morgana argued. "But Merlin... my powers didn't work on him. Not one of them."

Merlin nodded slowly, keeping silent. It was a long day; he didn't have the energy to talk ethics and morality with her.

"Well... what does it mean?" She pressed and Merlin sighed, getting up.

"It means he is pure of heart. It's a long story and we have a lot to do tomorrow. Get some sleep and try not to worry about it. He's not important. If he's in the way, kill him."

Morgana opened her mouth and closed it again before she could give herself away. She couldn't kill him. He was... Leon.

She sat down in the chair behind her desk, where Merlin had been sat only a moment before. It had been an odd sort of day for a demon and she needed a moment to remind herself who she was, what she was... and what she was doing.

They’d had the cheesecake, with Leon feeding her it from his fork, trying to make her guess what number he was thinking of before he’d let her have a bite. She’d laughed at the time though now she feared what it said about her, that her powers had become some joke for her to make light of and that the fact they didn’t work on Leon didn’t fill her with the sickening dread it should.

But then she remembered him offering to walk her to wherever she needed to go. She’d declined of course, assuring him she would call a taxi. It wouldn’t do to have anybody, even him, know about the seams where their worlds joined. He’d been happy enough to take her word for it and he’d kissed her on the cheek, assuring her he would text her. Apparently that was something that humans worried about, whether or not the man would call or text or change their relationship status on Facebook. She didn’t understand it herself, she knew where to find him, she had his number. What was the big deal?

She fished her phone out of her pocket, tapping in the four digit code to bring it to life. He hadn’t texted. Devil damn it.

-x-

It was another two days before Morgana dared risk another visit to the Other side. Nobody much had noticed Cedric's disappearance, nobody had really liked him and those that had shared in his plotting knew or could guess at what happened. In the meantime, Merlin hinted to just enough people in his sect that Cedric might have ended up in the Cage for treason. It wouldn't make it higher up; they didn't care for low level demons so long as the numbers were good. And they only looked at the final numbers; they didn't care where they came from.

Morgana however had been a little easier to miss. She had Generals under her command and Merlin wasn't the only one who had come looking for her. And when they couldn't find her... well, demons talked. And talk spread faster than Hellfire.

She'd not booked her time away as official, that was her problem. At the time she didn't want to face uncomfortable questions but not saying anything at all landed her with the same problem. This time she met the system halfway. She booked the time on the other side but she picked a name at random and claimed to be checking on them. It was dangerous because if she was needed, they'd know where to find her - or rather they'd know exactly where she wasn't. But then, it would be just as bad if they found her where she really was.

Upon reaching the Other side she checked her phone. Surprisingly there was no signal in Hell which had soothed her ego a little bit. She tried her best not to smile when she saw she had a text from Leon. She was only a day late in reading it.

_I had fun last night, fancy doing it again sometime? Maybe Monday?_

She bit her lip, having to try really hard not to smile now. Monday was today. Monday was also Leon’s day off, the very reason why she was sneaking back to the Pendragon office building.

_I have a few things to do this afternoon but I'd be up for a drink later of you fancy it?_

She frowned, hating the reminder that she was actively using him. She even hated thinking about it. She paused then added:

_My psychic powers tell me you're going to say yes._

Technically that was another lie, referencing yet another lie but it was something they shared and that made her feel better.

She pocketed her phone and started walking. A few steps later it buzzed against her leg and she found herself stopping to answer it. She just about managed autocorrect, she hadn't mastered walking and texting yet.

_Who am I to argue with such divine powers? Say 9?_

Morgana stared at the text for a moment, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She decided to laugh it off for the sake of her sanity.

_It's a date ;)_

Morgana set off towards the office, trying to keep Leon and what she was planning to do separate. This time she got all the way to Arthur's door without being stopped. It was rather surreal to knock on the door like a normal visitor.

Arthur opened the door and looked at her confused. Morgana assumed he wasn't used to dealing with something as unexpected as an unscheduled human being. Well, sort of. The same general idea at least.

She took him in. He was much more like it, she thought, remembering those few seconds when she’d actually thought Leon was Arthur. No, this was Arthur. Tall, blond, blue eyed, giving her a look that clearly said she was wasting his time and time was money. Or something corporate sounding like that.

“Can I help you?” he asked Morgana and because he was glaring at her in such a fashion, it was easy to catch his eye.

“Let me in, there’s a love,” she said, her security shaken slightly because last time she tried this, it had been disastrous. Well, she’d gotten to know Leon on one hand but on the other, she’d been carried to the lift kicking and screaming. Which hadn’t done her pride any favours. Had he been less of... less _him_ , she no doubt would have killed him for his impertinence but he’d caught her off guard that day. In fact, she was still rather off guard. She’d barely noticed that Arthur had opened the door wide for her, gesturing her inside. She needed to get her mind off his bodyguard and back onto the man himself.

“So, you’re Arthur Pendragon?” she confirmed.

“Yes. And who are you?” he asked her, looking at the door he’d just closed. Now she’d released him, he was probably wondering why the Hell he’d let her in. That was the problem with lying and trickery, it always demanded another trick. But not this time. If she wanted his soul, she had to get it the old fashioned way.

Morgana sat down at his desk, making herself comfortable and making it clear she had the power here. "Consider me a scout," she said. It wasn't entirely a lie. She was a scout of sorts.

“A scout?” Arthur repeated back at her. “I’m not interested in another job.”

“I’m not talking about another job,” Morgana said, glancing over the mountains of papers on his desk. She didn’t envy him the job he already had. “I’m offering you another life.”

Arthur came to stand by the desk, leaning on the back of the empty chair rather than sitting in it. He was still trying to make it feel like he was dominating the room and their conversation. Morgana looked up at him, trying to communicate that she wasn’t in the mood to have a pissing contest.

“Look,” she continued. “I know you know what I am. Think about it.”

Arthur frowned, standing up straight again and taking her in. He studied her closely for half a minute and then shrugged. “I don’t know, are you from legal or something?”

Morgana pulled at the hem of her blouse. Perhaps she’d been better off in her Victorian style dress.

“I’m a demon,” she clarified. “And so could you be, if you play your cards right...”

-x-

Merlin sighed, taking the contract from the little girl and handing her the knife. It wasn’t that he particularly cared what would become of her or the nanny she claimed to hate with the fires of a thousand burning souls, it was just... too easy.

But he needed easy souls at the moment. While Cedric had been a crawling, pitiful demon, he had been good at getting the numbers up. Mostly because he wasn’t beyond bartering the souls of low hanging fruit.

He’d had Sophia keep an eye on Morgana, just so that she couldn’t accuse him of spying on her himself. Sophia was Hell’s fixer. If you needed someone to disappear, she made it happen. If you needed a favour extradited from someone against their will, she’d see that they gave it. Nobody could say no to her. She had the highest count of souls in her grasp in all of the realm. Merlin had to respect that, even if her methods bewildered him and her ability to turn from sweetness and light to bathing in blood in less than the blink of an eye frankly alarmed him. But she knew everything about everything and he needed a bit of knowledge right now.

She’d reported back to him not an hour ago that Morgana was in London, checking up on the account of one Miss Mithian Nemeth, a girl who had tried to sell her soul for a Shetland pony when she was nine. Merlin had been the one to decline her. Not because he had any qualms damning innocent souls – most souls were innocent until they were damned after all – but she’d not made the plea out of greed or jealousy. She already had the pony. But the pony had colic and her parents didn’t want the fuss of hiring a vet to diagnose and treat the animal. Her father had told her she could always buy another pony and that’s when she’d turned to Hell. Merlin refused to take her soul and he left her sobbing in her bedroom with all her vaguely horse-shaped soft toys. He wasn’t completely heartless though, he’d inflicted the most terrible dreams of the pony’s death on her parents until they were so guilty that they opted to pay for exploratory surgery on the animal. It had been what Merlin liked to think of as a ‘happy ending’ and he’d only kept her on record to remember that sometimes, his humanity did like to resurface.

The fact Morgana considered her a viable option was ludicrous and Merlin instantly saw it for the lie it was. But he wasn’t about to tell anybody else that.

“Have fun,” he wished the girl, waving her off to her fate. In thirty years, she’d suffer a fatal heart attack and her soul would be his. But for the moment she was smiling and happy. So was the nanny, who was having an affair with the girl’s father, trying to talk him into leaving his wife and child for her. Maybe a ‘happy ending’ was a bit of a stretch today.

-x-

Arthur sat down at his desk, more than a little nervous. Was he really that bad that Hell itself wanted him, he thought miserably. He’d told her no, of course. She made it seem like he was trading up on the food chain of moral dubiousness and that was the last thing that he wanted. It had been difficult getting rid of her; he’d had to threaten to call his bodyguard in, something he really didn’t want to do. He’d given Leon today off for coming in on Saturday and he didn’t want to disturb him at home. Luckily, she threw her hands up, muttered something about gratitude and stormed out. But the whole thing had unsettled him.

He sighed, wishing it had been Merlin that had asked him. Maybe he would have been able to explain finally to Merlin how he felt. And then what... risk losing him forever? Arthur stood, deciding he was going home early. He wouldn't tell Merlin about this. If he didn't already know, that was.

He hated his father. He knew he shouldn't think ill of him now that he was dead but Uther had not only saddled him with such a bastard company and apparently marked his immortal soul as being evil but if it weren't for him and his deal, he would have never met Merlin. Not that he didn't love Merlin, no, that was the problem. He did.

Would Merlin have wanted him to say yes? If he did, he would have surely brought the idea up himself long ago.

 

There was no part of this he liked, no matter which way he thought about it.

-x-

Morgana ordered a drink from the bar. She was early and Leon wasn't there yet. She didn't understand, how could Arthur have said no to such an offer? It certainly wasn't his conscience or any moral integrity, she was sure of that. She just needed more time with him. She needed a better pitch.

Really, it was the chance of a lifetime for a human, what she was offering. Immortality, invulnerability, power if he wanted it. Being a demon was so much better than being a human.

On paper, at least. She'd found herself hating the limitations of it lately and she didn't mean the lack of signal or wi-fi. Why was she having to lie just to have drinks with one human? She was a Commander, for Hell's sake, why couldn't she do what she wanted for a few hours?

"Morgana?" A voice called from behind her.

She plastered on a smile before she turned to greet him. "Leon. Sorry, stressful day, I started without you."

"Is everything ok?" he asked her, his hand stroking her arm with a familiarity that made her want to fall into his arms and tell him everything. The whole sorry affair.

But she couldn't because then she'd have to admit she was using him. Or had been using him. Technically nothing was _making_ her meet him tonight. Only that she had wanted to.

"I feel better already, now that you're here," she admitted, clamping down on all thoughts of Hell. "I just need to get out of my own head for a bit."

"Ah, well of course we could always drink ourselves senseless until we forget our names and end up wearing each other's clothes but I have a better idea..." He ran his hand down her arm until he could entwine his fingers with hers.

Morgana shrugged, finishing the dregs of her drink before he could pull her up and away from it. "I don't think you'd fit in this skirt anyway."

Leon smiled down at her and for a second, her whole body forgot to function. He was looking at her like she was some jewel but not with greed or envy, with wonder. Nobody had ever looked at her like she was precious before.

"That's a shame," Leon muttered, his other hand coming up under her chin, tilting her head back ever so slightly. "It's a very nice skirt."

Morgana smiled, her brain too foggy to think up a line in return but she found she didn't need a line. He leaned down, closing the space between them, overloading her heightened senses. She could feel his beard rough on her smooth skin but she liked it, it was the perfect contrast to the softness of his lips, the gentleness with which he kissed her. He pulled back and she was vaguely aware of leaning up, trying to follow the kiss and she coughed awkwardly to cover just how affected she was.

"Right, yes," she said, grabbing for words in the haze. "Let's do the thing. Your idea."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Leon said, pulling her up, clinging tighter to her hand. Their bodies collided and for a second she thought he might kiss her again, just because she couldn't think of anything else. "How do you feel about horror films?"

"Oh, erm..." Morgana searched for proper words again. "I've not seen all that many."

"Let's change that then," Leon said, walking with her to the door, their casual grown-up date of ‘a few drinks’ forgotten in favour of a more classic date. "I find the best way to get away from yourself for a few hours is to have the living daylights scared out of you. It makes you feel better, scientifically speaking, what with the adrenaline."

Morgana's heart was racing and she didn't even notice the cold as they stepped outside. Apparently adrenaline wasn't something she was lacking at the moment.

When they were a good way down the road, it finally occurred to her to ask, "Just where are you taking me, sir?"

"I'm taking you back to my place," Leon said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her reaction.

"And I thought you were a gentleman with honourable intentions," Morgana joked to hide the fact her stomach was doing summersaults at the very idea.

"I assure you they are of the upmost honour, my intentions," Leon said, pulling her a little closer. "It would be irresponsible of me to introduce you to the genre with some modern drivel."

"Excuses, excuses," Morgana admonished him, wishing yet again that she could read his mind and know exactly what he was thinking. Which way did she even hope he was thinking? A few days ago she could honestly say she'd never cared for desire or affection, except when used on the weaker souls as temptation, but after that kiss... she wasn't sure she knew what she thought anymore.

Leon's apartment was a lot like him, in a tall regal looking complex that was a little old fashioned perhaps but looked like it would still be standing forever, timeless. But on the inside, as with him, she was surprised. There was antique looking furniture, vintage prints lining the wall and comfy looking furniture. She liked it rather a lot even though it was full of bric-a-brac and her offices and living quarters had always been minimalist at best.

He showed her around quickly, reeling off the purposes of each space as he pointed to each room in turn. She made herself comfortable on his sofa while he fetched them both a glass of wine.

"I was thinking an old classic," he suggested, holding up a red, white and black box. The Omen.

"Sure, looks interesting," she agreed, trying to ignore the crucifix on the cover.

The film wasn't so much scary as ominous and tense and every time the music suggested something untoward might happen, she found herself shrinking closer into Leon's body. Every time she jumped, she felt his hand squeeze her hand or her arm or her thigh comfortingly.

She didn't like the dog. Everything else she could apply logic to. Hell didn't send out devil children into the world. And there wasn’t a great plan for an Antichrist. But Hellhounds were real and they were unpleasant bastards, more used for guarding than attacking, as the film showed.

It growled, protecting the evil, creepy kid and she buried her face into Leon's shoulder. She'd never got on the bad side of a hound before but as a child she used to have nightmares about the ones that guarded her.

"Don't you like dogs?" Leon asked, stroking her hair then kissing the top of her head, calming her frayed nerves.

"Sure," she said, raising her head. "Spaniels and Labradors... that's a beast."

"I had a Great Dane when I was a kid, he was a big softie. Sometimes appearances can be deceptive," Leon said, a touch philosophically. Morgana didn't miss the irony.

"Like you, you mean?" she asked. "Big scary bodyguard to the great Arthur Pendragon by day..."

"Huddled up on the sofa with a damsel in distress by night?" Leon finished for her.

"Ha!" Morgana laughed. "Is that how you see me? And I thought you had me marked as the bad guy?"

"As I said, appearances can be deceptive," Leon said cryptically.

Morgana glanced at the screen. The mother was afraid of her own child, how terrible that must be. To fear somebody that you’re supposed to love unconditionally. Could it work the other way, she wondered, could somebody love something they were supposed to fear?

"How do you see me then?" Morgana asked, standard date procedure going out the window.

Leon looked down at her, brow creasing in concentration for a second as he contemplated her. "I think you're just that. A damsel in distress. I'm just not sure why – you’re strong, smart, witty, beautiful, natural – but I get the feeling you're not used to people saying things like that."

"I don't know that I even know anyone who thinks like that," Morgana agreed, not sure what she should say.

Leon smiled but it didn’t quite make his eyes. “There’s a tower somewhere and you’ve locked yourself in there. It makes me want to don a suit of armour, get on a horse and rescue you. If you’d let me, that is.”

The music started up again and Morgana jumped. She'd been staring into his eyes so intently, she'd quite forgotten about Damien and his troubles. But this time when she moved closer to him and looked up to seek comfort in his grasp, he kissed her.

Slowly and tenderly at first, like it was another form of comfort and then her hands started to act of their own will, stroking up and down his back, pulling him in closer. He deepened the kiss and her mouth opened to his by instinct, as if she were a mirror reflecting his every movement.

She'd never felt any of this before. Not the warm feeling of being held or the heat of someone else's kiss. She could feel herself reaching for more and she even understood it, from a biological standpoint but it was rushing inside her in a way she didn't expect, like a dam bursting. She was drowning in it, in him, in her own feelings. She pulled away, breathing heavily.

It was ok. She'd just forgotten to breathe. And some part of her had forgotten that really, she didn't need to breathe at all. Hell, help her, what was she doing? She didn't know but she wanted more. She needed more.

She found his face with her hands, her fingertips stroking over the coarse hair there, mapping out exactly what she wanted. She kissed him fiercely, forgetting that he would start out gentle when he kissed her. She couldn't believe she'd never done anything like this before, it was exhilarating. It was like falling through the air, only to land on something soft.

The film was forgotten. Her fear was forgotten. Hell itself was forgotten as she kissed him over and over, breaking for air when it got too much. She was gradually falling back, the arm of the sofa cradling her body, Leon resting just above it. She knew from second hand experience where this was headed, she'd be blind not to and her fear returned to her. Not fear of him or what they would do but fear of what would happen after. Morgause could have her locked away simply for thinking fondly of another human – to lie with them, as equals, she could only hope for something so forgiving as imprisonment or banishment. She could lose everything. Merlin could lose everything because of her, if it all came out. She pulled herself away, sitting up sharply and pulling the hem of her blouse to straighten it. There was no saving the wrinkles in her skirt.

"I'm sorry," she said shakily and she really was. If she didn't leave now, she'd kiss him again and do so much more, ask more of him than it was right to ask. She only needed Arthur's soul. She didn't want his too. Not under these circumstances. "I need to go."

Leon nodded and his hands fell away from her obediently. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to... pressure you at all."

"No," Morgana said, tears creeping up into her throat. How could he be so honourable now, when she was the one walking out on him, giving him no reason or excuse? All she could offer him was lies and maybe a grain of the truth. "I wish I could stay, I... I like you. I know that's all girly and it's too soon to expect anything like that, or at least, so Cosmo tells me, but I honestly... like you. And that's why I have to leave."

Leon kept looking at her, dumbfounded, as she stood.

"I know it's mad. Just... believe that," she said, feeling horrible for making this all the worse by trying to explain.

"Will you call?" Leon asked her and Morgana started to shake her head. "Just to let me know you made it home safely and that you're ok?"

"Alright," Morgana said, smiling weakly and picking up her bag. "I really am sorry."

Leon pressed his lips together, like he was trying to smile but he didn't quite make it. "It's alright. I understand. I think."

Morgana wanted to kiss him again, just chastely; just on the cheek but she didn't trust herself. She didn't even trust herself to touch him. So she pressed her fingers to her lips where he'd kissed her and kissed them instead.

-x-

"Have you been on the Other side?" Merlin asked as Morgana brushed past him on her way to her quarters.

"Don't start, Merlin," she shouted back at him and he froze. It took him a second to realise that she - Commander Morgana of Royal Blood - was crying. Demons didn't often cry, no matter how much you tortured them. He'd never actually seen a demon cry before. It was like a unicorn. He turned and followed her into her office before she could shut him out.

"I wasn't going to," he said belatedly.

"Good," Morgana said stiffly, her back still turned on him. "Get out."

"Morgana..."

"I am your Commander and I command you now, get out," she shouted, unable to keep her emotions from her voice.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," Merlin said, risking his neck because she was his only friend in this place and... he'd never seen a demon cry.

"I fucked it up, alright. No soul, no deal. He said no. We're fucked," Morgana said, turning to face him finally. Long black streaks of human makeup showed she'd been crying a while.

Merlin stared at her a moment, confused. “So... we’ll find another soul? There’s about seven billion of them, after all.”

“No, he was...” Morgana stopped to sigh, confusing Merlin even more. “The one.”

Merlin moved around the desk, attempting to get closer to her but she walked away, towards the door that led into her private chambers.

“Look,” Merlin said, “it really doesn’t matter what soul, I’m sure they can’t be any worse than Cedric was.”

Morgana looked over her shoulder at him, smiling sadly. “Oh, Merlin, this one was perfect. Kind and brave and noble. He was a good soul.”

She stepped through the set of dividing doors and pulled them closed behind her, ending Merlin’s attempt at comfort and shutting him out.

“He sounds dreadful,” Merlin said to the closed door, wondering what the Hell had gotten into his Commander.

-x-

Dawn was a horrifying prospect. Being in Hell, it didn’t come with any harsh light but the banging on her door was harsh enough to be going on with. She’d put her pillow over her head but now she knew the sound was there, she couldn't block it out. She could, however, ignore it.

She buried her face deeper into her mattress. What the Hell had she been thinking, running out on Leon like that? She'd blown everything, her quickest route to Arthur and whatever else might have been going on between them. She didn't want to think about that so she thought about Arthur and his soul instead. Could she still get to him? Could she still risk sneaking through the building knowing that if someone was going to stop her, it would be Leon?

Devil help her, what was this terrible sinking feeling that wouldn't leave her alone? It was worse than any pain she'd ever felt. Even though her eyes were open, she didn't truly feel awake. Like any second now she might wake up for real and all this nonsense would have been a very surreal nightmare. But she didn't. Instead she just stayed in her in-between state, slowly suffocating herself with her bedding.

The knocking didn't stop and it was starting to give her a headache.

"Sod off, will you?" she shouted at the door, throwing her nearest possession at it.

"You are still alive then?" Merlin asked through the tiniest slit in the door, not daring to open it any further for fear of what else she might throw.

"Apparently," Morgana said, glaring at him. "I don't need your expert diagnosis to tell me that though so get out."

She gestured for him to close the door and he did. But with himself on the wrong side of it.

"We need to talk," he said and she shook her head.

"We really don't."

"Ok, I'll talk. You brush your hair or something," Merlin offered, pulling up the seat at her vanity table. "Whatever it is that happened last night, you need to get over it."

"Fuck you," Morgana said, unable to stop her temper from rising. "I'm your Commander, you can't-"

"I can. Because I'm your friend," Merlin countermanded. "And whatever it is will get in the way of you getting a soul, transferring the power over and making a new demon with me. And if that doesn't happen, heads will roll. Not so metaphorically either. We're in the red, Morgana, I'm doing everything I can to keep my sector above water but I'm one slippery creep down and I can't do everything. I need you to find a soul and soon."

"Alright, I'll... I'll try to think of something," Morgana agreed even though she knew she only had two possible courses of action. Either she could drop Arthur completely and make do with some lowlife soul, never seeing Leon again or... or she could try to get him back on side.

"Good," Merlin said, his expression and tone softening. "You've come so far, Morgana, I couldn't bare it if something like this destroyed you. Well, and me too but mostly you."

Morgana could feel her eyes flash gold in place of tears welling up. "I know."

-x-

Morgana swallowed, the lump in her throat feeling like a very bitter pill. She hadn't checked her phone since leaving the Other side because she couldn't face what she might find on it. She'd broken her promise to Leon, about phoning him.

But this was bigger than both of them. If she didn't act soon there would be an enquiry and maybe even a trial. Murder, even in self defence, was still murder. And she'd sent too many people to the Cage to end up there herself.

She turned on the phone, feeling sick as she watched text after text pop up, most of them featuring the word _worry_.

She hit reply without properly reading any of them and typed in the words:

_I'm sorry about the other day, I freaked out. Can I meet you for coffee and I'll explain everything?_

She closed her eyes and pressed the phone to her chin. If he said no then she'd have to move on and find another soul before time ran out. And she didn't want to move on. Not yet.

The phone vibrated against her teeth, jarring her back to reality.

_Sure. Do you want to come to the office and meet me?_

Morgana sighed a breath of relief. He was still willing to talk, that was something. Now she just had to think up a story to tell him.

_Thank you. I'll be there in an hour._

Morgana stowed her phone away. She was only a few minutes walk from the office but she needed a little time to get her head together. It shouldn't even matter, she couldn't tell him the truth, all she was left with were lies. It was just a case of narrowing it down to as few lies as possible.

He was waiting for her outside the building when she finally talked herself into approaching it. He didn't make a move to kiss her; in fact, he was looking at her rather like a doe that might bolt any moment. It was her that made the move, hugging him, hoping he'd hug her back. He did, his arms enveloping her in warmth. He even risked kissing her head.

"It wasn't anything... physical... that upset me," Morgana assured him, realising what he must be thinking. "That was all lovely. I just..."

She trailed off, what exactly could she say? She'd had a crisis about starting a forbidden romance with someone who wasn’t even her species?

"Come on, let's get that tea," Leon offered, saving her from her own words.

He led her around the corner to a small coffee shop, so tiny compared to the massive office block. She ordered a peppermint tea while Leon had his with lemon.

After a few moments sipping in silence, Leon finally cleared his throat. "I'm sorry if anything I did upset you in any way. It was not my intention to make you feel uncomfortable."

"No, Leon, stop," Morgana said, instinctively taking his hand in hers. "It wasn't you, it was me. It was all me."

Leon nodded, keeping hold of her hand. He was waiting for her explanation. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she needed to say.

"This is going to sound mad," she started, "but I've never done anything like this before. I've never dated. My family is complicated and super strict and well, religion is a big thing, I suppose."

Morgana grimaced at how close to the truth she was skirting, all she had to do was throw _and they're demons_ onto the end and her secret would be out. But she couldn't so she waited in silence for his response.

"So, did you want to wait?" he asked, squeezing her hand. "Because I will gladly wait for you."

"That's not it, I promise," Morgana said, the idea of him waiting, of him making plans for this being a long term arrangement, hurt her heart. "It's just that sometimes I don't understand it all. I don't know what I'm doing or feeling or saying, even. I've never felt like this before. I've never felt anything before. I wouldn't blame you for being confused because I sure as Hell am."

Leon brushed his thumb over her knuckles and she looked down at their hands, appreciating the gesture. He wasn't letting go.

"I wanted you to know that it wasn't you,” she continued. “You're wonderful. Much more than I deserve, but sometimes I might freak out and need to run and turn my phone off for a few days. I wanted you to know that's what you're getting into - a bit of a nutter - before you... got into me, as it were."

He looked at her for a long moment and she tried not to wither under the scrutiny of his gaze. She needed him and not just for her own selfish reasons. Their bigger picture needed him.

"My family are Mormons," he said suddenly, taking her by surprise. "So I see your crazy religious family and raise you my own."

"What?" Morgana asked, not even sure she knew what a Mormon was. She was pretty sure she was barking up the wrong tree with her thoughts of a half man, half fish.

"Yep. My father has convinced my mother that he's also married to the housekeeper. Christmases are a mess."

"You should see my Christmases," Morgana said without thinking. "They really are Hell."

"Do you have a big family?" Leon asked, sipping his tea.

Morgana considered all the demons she was bound to by blood. She'd never really thought of them as a _family_ before. "I guess. We're not close though. I only really see my sister, Morgause."

"Morgause?" Leon asked, nearly choking on his drink. "Morgana _and_ Morgause?"

"Like I said, we're all a bit mad," Morgana smiled. Being named for her sister - her mother - Satan herself - was meant to be quite the honour. She'd always found it strange too. "Even our names are mad."

"I suppose Leon is quite normal by comparison," Leon mused. “I’ve always thought it sounded... odd.”

"I think it suits you, my Lion Knight" Morgana said before she realised she was talking aloud. "I mean... it means lion... if you didn't already know."

"I didn't actually," Leon said, but there was pink creeping into his cheeks in a blush, she knew he'd heard her. "I was never any good at those kind of things. What does Morgana mean?"

Morgana hesitated. She was sure she'd been taught it as a child. "Something to do with the sea, I think. Which is terrible because I can't swim. I like the rain though."

Leon glanced out the window. The sun was shining and he looked slightly disheartened. Like he would make it rain for her if he could. She couldn't tell him but if she wanted to she could make it rain for him. But she got the feeling he was more of a sunshine man and so, the clouds stayed out of the sky for now.

Morgana sipped her tea, the mint hot and fresh on her tongue. She should wait, let the dust settle but she could feel the metaphorical axe above her head and having Leon forgive her made her want to cling to life.

"Arthur finally saw me today," she said casually. Or at least she hoped it passed for casual, setting up the lie made her nervous.

"He did?" Leon asked and Morgana could tell that wasn't the real question he wanted to ask.

"I told you I was a journalist," she said, answering the real question. "I must have messed up the appointment days, that's all."

"Then you must forgive how I behaved," Leon said, pushing away his cup. Morgana frowned. It hadn’t been her intention to make him feel guilty.

"Not at all," she reassured him. "You were only doing your job. I get that."

Leon nodded but it was a half-hearted agreement. "What did you want to interview him for?"

"I was hoping to feature him in a project of mine. A 'ones to watch' if you like. I think he shows a lot of potential and would be a great fit for what I have in mind..." Morgana trailed off despondently. She hated leading him so.

"But...?" Leon pressed her, hearing the disappointment in her tone.

"But he says he's not interested," Morgana finished, looking down into her tea.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you'll find someone else," Leon said, smiling weakly at her.

"I could find someone else but..." Morgana paused, pitching a weary sigh at the height of the tension between them. "I think it's such a wasted opportunity for him. Me as well."

"How so?" Leon asked, his tea getting cold between them.

"Well, he's exactly what we're after, down to a tee," Morgana explained. "If I could get him on board, it could lead to all sorts of marketing and networking prospects. Between us, we could have started something great. We're talking a lot of revenue, not to mention bigger clients than he's used to dealing with. We have fingers in every flavour of pie, believe me."

Leon frowned, making Morgana frown in return. She'd expected him to be beaming. If Arthur went up in the world, he was bound to benefit as well. Not that he'd benefit much from what would really go down but he didn't know that yet. He never would if Morgana could help it.

"What?" she asked when he didn't explain his hesitation.

"It just doesn't sound very much like Arthur," Leon said, taking his tea back. His guilt assuaging itself as he advised her. Or so he thought. "He's not all that into the financial side of things."

"But he's CEO, how can he not be?" Morgana picked up her spoon from the table, tapping it against the flat of her palm in frustration. "I mean, it's his inheritance on the line, right?"

"Yes, I suppose," Leon said and then shrugged. "I can look through his contacts if you like, I'm sure someone will take you up on your offer."

Morgana nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She'd never felt personally affronted when somebody lied to her before, it came with the territory and the job description, but this was Leon. Honourable Leon. Leon who liked her.

There was no question he was omitting the truth, or dodging it at the very least; she didn't need to be psychic to sense it.

"What is important to him then?" Morgana asked, biting her lip after she said it because now she was just being brazen. If Leon worked it out...

"I honestly don't know," Leon mused. "Something keeps him going but he's never told me what."

Morgana smiled, a small truth soothing the burn of the lie. "Everybody needs something to keep them going."

He caught her eye and she nearly balked. What was keeping her going these days? A week ago she would have said her career, her position in Hell and her loyalty to her friends but the only friend she had was Merlin and her position was worth nothing if she was in danger of losing it over something so small.

She closed her eyes, feeling them flash gold under the lids. It wasn't small to Cedric, she supposed. What had kept him going? Greed, she guessed. Merlin was kept going by some need to bring out the best in them all. She was kept going by... the desire not to be locked away, to get to see another sunrise on this pitiful plane, to see Leon in the sunshine and kiss him in the rain? She didn’t even know anymore.

But what kept Arthur going? That was the question.

-x-

That night Morgana had trouble sleeping. What kept Arthur going was a pressing problem but the fact she wasn't even sure what was keeping her going anymore was frankly more troubling. It couldn't be petty human feelings like fondness and desire. It couldn't be a human. It was unthinkable.

She'd always loved the Other side. She'd always held a certain curiosity about humans. Like the way a child would feel seeing a tiger in a zoo. Fascination yes, perhaps even an urge to touch them but deep down it was known that they weren't the same, they were animals. It wasn't supposed to be offensive. That's just how it was. When the trade was in human souls, they couldn't be seen as equals. They were livestock or if you really yearned to own one for yourself, they were pets. They weren't lovers. They weren't friends.

Morgana felt something ghastly twist in her stomach. She'd nearly become lovers with a human. It was bad enough she was courting him, if she was caught but to actually... love him? Satan preserve her.

She'd have to sever all ties with him once she got Arthur to agree to her deal. He knew too much, she'd given too much ground to him for him to ever accept being her pet. And he could never bear such a yoke, Morgana could see that. He'd start a revolution if he thought the system was unjust. Was the system unjust, did she think that? Yes. It was rather. For the humans.

Morgana swallowed, scared. She hated having these thoughts. She'd had them all her life but now, they weren't abstract. They had a face and that face was a lion, with its golden mane and kind eyes.

She wished she wasn't a demon. Just for a second, she wished none of it had ever happened to her. Not being born into a royal household, not working her way to independence, not killing Cedric and chasing after the perfect soul to replace him. She wished that she could just sit back, in Leon's arms and watch films where the Devil was real and born into the world as a child, and demons possessed small girls and made them vomit green sludge. But it was ok because it was only a film. It wasn't really real. And it would be alright in the end.

-x-

Merlin woke to a hammering on his door, not for the first time that week. Before he'd ignored it. He'd known his weekly review was overdue but he just needed a few more days. He just needed Morgana to come through for him. This was the third time and he knew this time, they wouldn't go away. Once was _fair enough, they're out_ , twice was _well, they really must be busy_ , three times was _avoidance_.

Merlin threw on a robe, inside out so the crest on it was hidden. Arthur's very first attempt at a Christmas present. It matched his own he said, making Merlin scoff. The point of presents was something he'd never thought, as a demon, he'd have to explain to a human. But then, Arthur's father had always gifted him shares in the company and another five hundred thousand in his trust fund.

"Alright, I'm coming, where's the fire..." Merlin shouted, resisting the urge to add _and brimstone_. Hell wasn't anything like that, it was more like London, if everyone lived at work and the Tube had never been invented. Or the sun.

He opened the door, standing so that Gaius couldn't see inside. He was another one completely the opposite of the human's idea of Hell and demons. He was the oldest demon Merlin knew. And that was saying something considering demons didn't age like other creatures. Merlin had been a demon for over fifteen hundred years and he'd barely aged a day so far as he could see. It was different for Highborns. They had to mature. There was a ritual they performed when they decided they were satisfied with their age. Merlin never asked whether Gaius was high or lowborn.

"I don't really have time for this today, Gaius," Merlin tried, smiling apologetically.

"Merlin," Gaius said, raising an eyebrow and giving him the look. It was a look that many demons had been on the end of. And had broken on the end of, Merlin was sure.

"Really, I wish I could stop to chat but there's a... thing?" Merlin trailed off uselessly, the look getting the better of him. "Fine."

"Thank you," Gaius said as Merlin let him in. "It will only take a few minutes."

Merlin nodded, even though he was sure it would take much longer when it all came out. His heart was pounding uncomfortably and he felt sick. Gaius had always been good to him, kind even, but he wouldn’t ask the old man to risk his neck for him.

He showed Gaius to a seat at his desk and dithered while retrieving the numbers for the week. Gaius’ job was to check them and take them to the next level. More numbers would be added in and Morgana would check them all before he would deliver them further up the scale, snowballing them all into one figure. Gaius would be one of the only ones who would know where the fault was if it all went wrong. Merlin took a deep breath, aware that if he kept hyperventilating like he was, he might actually pass out. And that wouldn’t be a good start to any meeting.

He handed Gaius the papers and sat down, staring straight ahead so that he wouldn’t look guilty when Gaius looked up.

“These numbers Merlin,” Gaius started, flipping the pages as if he might find more somewhere. “They’re awfully low.”

“We’ve had some... disruption,” Merlin said carefully, weighing his words. “It’s all sorted now. I’m sure next week’s figures will reflect that.”

“Hmmm,” Gaius said, pressing his lips together in thought, making Merlin feel even worse. “That’s all very well but what do I say about these figures?”

Merlin shook his head, hoping it looked better than a shrug which was what he really wanted to do. “Whatever you say there will be an investigation, I’m sure.”

Gaius watched him carefully waiting for the other half of that observation. It made Merlin’s skin flush but it wouldn’t stop him trying. “Unless, you don’t say anything.”

“Merlin...”

“Look, an investigation will just set us back further. It will cost everyone souls and time that could be better spent. I’ve dealt with those responsible, would it be fair to burden those that aren’t?” Merlin asked, clawing for some leverage. “My Commander is aware of the matter and agrees it has been dealt with suitably with no need for further action.”

Gaius raised his eyebrow but after a few seconds, he nodded. "Very well. I shall consult with Morgana and decide if this needs to go higher. Along with the matters of Vivian and Elena."

Merlin nodded back, momentarily relieved. Vivian and Elena weren’t his problem for the second. All he needed to do was get to Morgana first, work out a story and get the numbers up in the meantime. Child's play. If that child was Albert Einstein.

"That'll be all then?" Merlin asked, standing, hoping to show Gaius the door but he lingered on the threshold.

"Merlin, if you're keeping something back," Gaius warned him. "Souls or information, you're better off giving it up now."

"I promise, you know everything I know," Merlin lied, breathing easier now Gaius was back on the other side of his door. He closed it slowly, waving to show he wasn't scared even though inside, he was terrified.

He rested his head against the door for a moment. It was early yet and Gaius still had work to do before he reached the Commanders. If he rushed and gathered all the information he could, he might just make it with enough time to spare for them to make a proper plan.

-x-

A knock came at the door and Arthur jumped at the sound. He was still on edge from the demon that had come into his office – his life – and declared him a soul fit for Hell. He half wished Merlin had been to visit but if Merlin had come, what would he have said? Surely if he was going to be having demons – demons other than Merlin – make social calls, Merlin would already know. And he hadn't come. And Arthur had no way of reaching him.

"It's Leon, sir," a voice came through the door, as if to reassure him. "You asked me to come up right away."

"Yes," Arthur said, shaking himself. "Come in."

This was his affirmative action; he'd decided that was what was needed. Leon came in and closed the door behind him, discreet as always.

"Leon, I need to ask you a favour, off the books," Arthur said, gesturing to the seat opposite him. Leon never sat in his presence unless instructed to do so.

"Of course, sir," Leon said, taking the offered seat. "How might I be of service?"

Arthur sat back, thinking about how he was going to play this. He couldn't tell Leon the truth, even though he trusted the man on a daily basis with his life. Not only would Leon probably think him mad, he'd also be putting Merlin at risk and that was the last thing he wanted.

"I had a woman break into my office," Arthur lied, not able to admit how she really got in. "I wanted to run a background check on her. Better yet, a security check."

"Surely that's illegal, sir," Leon said, casting his eyes down. Arthur smiled; Leon was too noble for this business by far.

"We run them on every job applicant," Arthur said by way of sidestepping the question.

"With their express and written permission," Leon countered, glancing up before looking away again. Arthur sighed; he hated having to do something that would rest so heavily on the man's soul.

"Alright, it's not entirely legal but think about it like this, if I reported her to the police, they would run a background check, so really, I'm just saving us and them time. Saving the tax payers some money too, I suspect." Arthur took out a sheet of paper and a pen from a draw full of them. Each page had a Pendragon letter top and each pen had their logo on it. He really needed to get some personal stationery, he decided.

"Look, this is everything I remember," Arthur said as he scribbled down words. "You don't have to do anything your conscience disagrees with. Just find out who she is. Or who she says she is at least."

He handed the page to Leon and to his relief, Leon took it. It didn't say anything incriminating, just hair colour, eye colour, height and build and a few likely cover stories. Arthur knew she had to be based somewhere around here, at least temporarily, to be scouting for humans.

"Morgana?" Leon asked, the name sticking on his tongue. Arthur could understand that, it was an unusual one. But then, so was Merlin.

"Yes, sorry I don't have anything more than that but it's quite a rare name I'd imagine," Arthur said, his attention starting to slip now that the weight had been lifted from his shoulders slightly. Now all he had to worry about was his soul, Merlin, the board meeting that afternoon and the fact PETA were launching a boycott campaign against them. Oh, and the Virguna announcement had been postponed again. The WWF were putting up a fight. He should be pleased but he knew he'd win eventually, even though he didn't want to.

"Will that be all, sir?" Leon asked, sounding tired and looking alarmingly pale.

"Yes, actually, Leon," Arthur said, taking pity on the man. "You can have the rest of the day off. To research."

"Thank you, sir." Leon folded the page, dragging his fingers over the fold nervously as he stood.

"Not at all," Arthur said, knowing he had made the right choice letting Leon go early. Obviously the stress of the last week had gotten to him as well.

-x-

Merlin knocked on Morgana's door, only appearances keeping him from actively hammering it down. Things were so much worse than he thought. A few questions about his fellow Generals proved that. "Morgana! Open the damn door!"

"Alright!" Morgana shouted through the door before swinging it open, revealing herself in nothing but a black silk robe. At least somebody was having an easy morning, he thought bitterly as he pushed past her. "Where's the fire?"

Merlin pulled a face. "Under us."

"What?" Morgana asked, tying the robe tight and sitting down on the sofa, waiting for him to do the same.

"I can't stay, trust me, it looks bad enough as it is," Merlin said, ignoring the seat and pacing around a Persian rug instead.

"It's only a robe, keep your hair on, it's not like I answered the door wearing a bed sheet. Everybody knows we're not like that," Morgana dismissed.

"Not that. Nobody cares what you're wearing," Merlin assured her, trying to keep his patience. "I've just lied to Gaius. Well, not lied but I didn't exactly tell the truth either. And he's coming here now so we need to get our ducks in a row and quickly."

"Right," Morgana said, running a hand over her forehead, trying to clear it. "What did you tell him?"

"I said my corp. had a minor disruption and I'd fixed it," Merlin started, trying to tie all the lies together. "I told you about it and you agreed I'd acted appropriately and that there'd be no need for an investigation."

"Ok, that's all you need, an alibi?" Morgana asked, getting up and going over to her desk. "Will he want to see my numbers because I am not ready for that, I warn you. Commander reviews aren't until the end of the week," Morgana said, her skin starting to flush as she gathered up papers. "Do you know, I hate all these fucking numbers. What does it matter anyway? Hell is not going to collapse because we're a few souls down, for Satan's sake!"

"It's not a few souls," Merlin admitted. "I've been a little... distracted of late. So have you."

"It can't be that bad," Morgana said, finally finding the right piece of paper and holding it up to the light. "Right?"

"Morgana, you've barely been here. You keep sneaking off to the Other side and that'd be fine if you actually came back with something but-"

"I'm trying!" Morgana growled, cutting him off.

"Great, it's great you're trying but I can't keep your sector afloat with _trying_." Merlin took the paper out of her hand and picked up a red pen, making several changes based on the information he’d gleaned. "You've not been here. Vivian is pregnant, she's not brought in a single soul because she's been throwing up blood for the last three days. Demon pregnancies are gross, by the way." Merlin shivered; luckily for him they were also rare and like with humans, they were saddled on the females. "Elena is stuck in Aberdeen with a leg broken in three places where she slipped over while vulnerable. She's lucky she didn't break her neck but the humans won't let her walk out. If she could actually walk, that is." Merlin took the pen and made another cross. "You only have four generals, that's two out of action, I'm the third and I have a lot on my plate right now, so my numbers are down. That leaves you with Will and you know he's a soft touch. A cute soft touch but honestly, how he's a demon is beyond me, he has to be highborn." Merlin slammed the pen down on the table, his heart racing because there was more red on the page than black or white. "So we're fucked, alright? We all need alibis because it has been one Hell of a week."

Merlin took a long, deep breath and watched Morgana do the same.

“You told me to go to the Other side,” she said finally, a wave of resignation hitting her.

“Yes, well, I didn’t know Hell was going to come down around our ankles in less than seven days,” Merlin said, trying to calm down. He wasn’t angry at her. Or not just her. She wasn’t the only one who’d buggered off for hours on end without telling anyone anything. He was just as guilty as her. Their eyes met and Merlin knew the same realisation had hit her.

“Where were you when it was coming down?” she asked and Merlin opened his mouth to answer, though with what he didn’t know but he was stopped in his tracks by a knocking at the door, polite at first and then insistent. Gaius.

“In there,” Morgana instructed him, pushing him through the dividing doors that sectioned her bedroom off from the rest of her quarters. She followed him through and closed the doors, resting her ear against them to listen for the continued knocking on her door. It wasn’t locked but Merlin was the only one who presumed to come into her quarters without express permission.

Merlin considered making a quip, given her state of undress and the misinterpretation from earlier but he didn’t have the heart for it. This was too serious. If she fell now, she would drag him down with her, even if she didn’t mean to.

-x-

Morgana stayed in her office for hours after both Gaius and Merlin had left. She'd been a tad preoccupied this past week, true, but she couldn't be blamed for _everything_. It wasn't her fault Vivian's arranged pregnancy had finally come to pass. She hadn't personally broken Elena's leg. The woman was clumsy enough she probably tripped over her own feet, Morgana couldn't be held responsible for that, surely. And Merlin... he was down one man and that _was_ her fault. But these numbers, the numbers for the past few weeks... they didn't match up.

Morgana put her head on the desk, closing her eyes to all the red ink. She felt very much like her own Wall Street was crashing. How had it come to this? Merlin had always run a tight ship when she'd been under him. His numbers were never impressive but they were never this bad. He'd trusted her with fetching them a soul to convert and yet when she made some calls, it turned out he'd been on the Other side, with little to no explanation, almost as much as she had been. And she had good reason. Really, his count should be up. Unless he wasn't doing his job. Just like she wasn't.

Morgana opened her eyes again, studying the paper. That was ridiculous. She'd known him for the better part of the millennia and he'd never so much as looked at a woman while in her company. And he never made a move on her. Romance just wasn't a thing but there was no other explanation she could think of. She wasn't entirely sure what spell she'd fallen under to risk everything to have dinner with a mortal. She certainly wouldn't accuse Merlin of the same madness. There had to be another reason behind his absence and she had bigger things to worry about.

There was a soft knock at the door and she groaned before she was able to stop herself. This was the fourth or fifth one since Gaius had left and she could only presume he kept coming back hoping to catch her. She'd so far managed to convince Hell that she was not at home but then she'd managed to keep silent those times.

"Morgana!" a stern but feminine voice came through the door. Decidedly not Gaius. "Merlin sent me."

Morgana got up and hesitantly walked to the door. If she was being dragged up in front of a court, they probably wouldn't send a woman to get her, not alone. She opened the door and her suspicions were confirmed, a small, mousey brunette stood in her doorway quite alone. Morgana's mental Rolodex named her Sophia but that was all she could remember about her.

"You'd better come in then," Morgana told her.

Sophia smiled and strolled in, looking Morgana's silk robe up and down before smoothing down her own black jacket and skirt. "Nobody told me it was Casual Friday."

"It's not. I'm... busy," Morgana said weakly. She made a dash back to her desk and started gathering up the papers. It wouldn't do for a demon from another division to get their hands on her appalling figures.

"Well, I think you're going to want to make time for some jeans or something," Sophia said, her tone strict, carrying more than a hint of a warning. "They're coming for you."

"Who’s coming for me?" Morgana asked but she took Sophia's advice, retiring momentarily to her room to grab a dress. She was so stressed that she barely even noticed it was her old velvet one. She shrugged it on, what did it matter, it was clean now.

"Everyone!" Sophia shouted from the other side of the doors, giving Morgana her privacy. "I've halted them as best I can, tied them up in red tape, so to speak."

Morgana slipped back into the room, her dress only half done up. "What do you mean everyone?"

"There's a warrant for your arrest," Sophia started then backtracked upon seeing Morgana turn sickly pale. She rushed to help Morgana with the fastenings on her dress, looking apologetic. "Only for detention and questioning."

"What's the charge?" Morgana asked but Sophia looked away, Morgana’s dress done up. "What is the charge?"

"Treason," Sophia said quietly. "Between the numbers and the time spent unaccounted for away from here, they think you're garnering souls and planning to up your pay grade. I'm sorry."

"How do you know all this?" Morgana asked, leaning against her desk, the wind knocked out of her.

"Merlin asked me to follow you," Sophia admitted. "That's quite hard when you will keep running off to the Other side so I kept an ear out instead. I was hoping to reassure him. I guess I won't be doing that."

"I guess not," Morgana said bitterly, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the edge of the desk. "How long have I got?"

"An hour," Sophia said before holding up her hands. "That's not as long as it seems, so don't get comfortable. I have a plan."

"You have a plan," Morgana stated, her tone disbelieving. "Who are you again?"

"Hey, I might not have a title but I know a lot more than you think. I have everyone in my back pocket and right now, you need an ally so don't start, alright? Because without me, you're screwed. And so is your human." Morgana stood, speechless for a second before Sophia nodded, softening a little. "See, I know everything worth knowing."

"Alright, your plan," Morgana said, waving her hand, giving Sophia the floor.

"First off, I'll file your paperwork. I'll borrow figures, call in favours. I can't make it look good but I can make it look not bad. I’ll convince Gaius was mistaken in his worry. He was pre-emptive. Then I talk Geoffrey down in Greater Records into letting me _check_ your files for the last week. Where you've been, what you've been doing. My pen might slip and suddenly, the reason nobody has been able to get hold of you is because you've been compensating for your General's pitfalls. And right now, you get the Hell out of Hell while I smooth everything over on your behalf. When you get back, they very well might offer you a bigger office rather than having you thrown in The Cage."

Sophia handed Morgana a piece of paper, stating that she was planning on using the gateway to London in less than fifteen minutes. Morgana took it and stared down at it.

"And what do you want in return?" Morgana asked. Nobody did anything for nothing in Hell.

"I want Vivian's General position while she's growing, birthing and nursing her spawn," Sophia said, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"And when she returns?" Morgana asked, folding the paper and pocketing it.

"She can fight me for it," Sophia crossed her arms. "Look, you'd have to elect a replacement anyway; you're just skipping the interview and hiring me on my worldly experience."

Morgana held out her hand, shaking Sophia's. "Done."

"A pleasure," Sophia smiled brightly. "Now I'll need your keys and clearance if I'm to clean up this mess."

Morgana opened a drawer and took out her keys, handing them over to Sophia and muttering, "one, nine, nine, two."

"Thank you kindly," Sophia said, squeezing the keys in her fist and memorizing the code. "Now go. I'll come and fetch you when I'm done. It might be a while so get comfortable over there."

"How will you know-" Morgana started but Sophia gave her a knowing look.

"Oh, I'll know where to find you."

-x-

Merlin rounded the corner, trying his best not to look like he was panicking while he was internally, well, panicking. There was no other word for it. Morgana had promised she wouldn't leave her quarters until Merlin had gauged just how bad things were. And they were bad. Really bad.

Morgana was wanted for questioning and Merlin had to admit, if he didn't already know all the answers, he'd have a lot of questions too. The way Merlin saw it, they had two choices, rush their plan and bury their heads in the sand, pretend nothing had happened or come clean about everything because luckily for them, it looked a Hell of a lot worse than it really was. But going A.W.O.L at the worst possible moment was _not_ featured in either plan.

"Merlin!" A voice called from down the corridor. He turned and spotted Sophia. "I was hoping to run into you."

"Sophia, I really don't-" Merlin started but she placed a hand on his arm, silencing him.

"You have time for this," she assured him, handing him a card.

_Sophia Tír-Mòr  
Division B Commander_

Merlin glared at the card before he tore it in half. "What's this?"

"It _was_ a nicely embossed business card. I've replaced Morgana as commander," she notified him.

"And does Morgana know about this?" Merlin asked. "Does Morgause?"

"I've put in a motion." Sophia shrugged. "It's as good as done. Morgana's wanted for treason, she hasn't officially been seen in days and she's not likely to be seen anytime soon."

"What do you mean?" Merlin said before thinking better of his question. "What did you do?"

"Little old me?" Sophia said, her face the picture of pure innocence. "Nothing. I just gave her good reasons to go and reminded her there wasn't a single reason to stay. After all, treason charges can't compete with love."

"What are you talking about?" Merlin asked, his heart skipping a beat at the idea of love. It wasn't a word lightly tossed about in Hell.

"Don't you know? She decided the perfect way to fix her little mistake was to bring Arthur Pendragon home for you... only she fell in love along the way. It's all rather-"

But Merlin didn't hear what it was 'all rather' because blood rushed in his ears and he didn't hear much of anything.

"Sorry, I have to go," Merlin just about managed to get out before he turned away, walking until he was out of Sophia's sight then running to his office.

He slammed his door behind him and walked around his glass conference table to his private quarters. When he got to his room, he could feel the elevator bearing down on him oppressively like it sometimes did when he was in Arthur's office. From this side he'd never looked at it before with anything other than longing before.

But if Sophia wasn't lying... if Arthur was the soul she was trying to poach, that was one thing. One ridiculous thing but it wasn't completely outside of the realm of understanding. He'd even idly thought of bringing Arthur down to Hell himself but in the traditional way, not as a demon. Deep down he knew Arthur would never agree to either way and that's why he'd never asked. But he could believe that Morgana had asked and been rejected. She didn't have as much to lose.

But Sophia had made another claim. She'd said the word _love_ and that was completely unbelievable. Demons didn't love and if they were going to start - and start with Arthur no less - it would be him that started it. After all, he was fairly certain he did actually love him, even if he wasn't supposed to be capable of it. Or something like that. He didn’t even know anymore. All he knew was he was desperate and the whole thing was hopeless.

But right now he knew a few things he felt for certain. Denial, for a start with sick running a close second. Morgana couldn't love Arthur. Arthur couldn’t love her. He couldn't think of two people less suited for each other. And not to mention Arthur was supposed to be with him, he thought bitterly.

Was there a chance Sophia had gotten her wires crossed and found out about his relationship with Arthur? Not that that outlook was any better for him and Arthur. If Hell started sniffing around Arthur for any reason, it wouldn't end well.

Making an impulsive decision, he reached out and pressed the button to call the lift. He needed to know for sure if anything Sophia said was true.

-x-

Leon stared blankly at the laptop for a second. He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this but aside from her very recently made Facebook page, he couldn't find a trace of Miss Morgana Le Fay.

He didn't know what he'd hoped to find, in all honesty. He didn't want to believe that she'd broken into Arthur's office. But then how many green eyed, ebony haired, 5' 6" women named Morgana were there in greater London? It also brought back the stark reminder that attempting to break into Arthur's office had been exactly what she'd been doing the first time they met. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten that so easily.

He dialled the number of the security firm they used to vet potential employees and swallowed down his internal conflict. He hated himself for doing this to Morgana, she probably had perfectly good reasons for not being easily traceable but if her reasons weren't good, didn't he have a duty to Arthur to know for sure what he was dealing with? Didn't he have a duty to himself?

The company answered and he reeled off the usual requests, giving her name and the address she'd given him. He also threw in her phone number as he didn't know her National Insurance number or her date of birth. Or anything else at all. Except that she didn’t like dogs, she preferred salted popcorn to sweet and she was a little bit psychic.

The company warned him it might take a few more hours than usual due to the sparse information he had but he thanked them anyway, grateful that they weren't making a fuss. Sometimes it was beneficial that Pendragon Industries was pretty much everyone's highest paying customer.

He made himself dinner while he waited, even though he wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. He needed to do something to stop himself from grabbing his coat and finding out for himself who Morgana really was - to prove her innocence, he told himself.

He sent her a text, simply saying he wanted to see her and talk to her but she didn't reply. That wasn't anything unusual, she often took at least a day to reply. But this time, Leon found himself worrying. He sat by his two phones, waiting for the security firm to ring his landline and Morgana to reply to his text.

How could she not be traceable? Leon wondered to himself. She was tangible, a real life person. He'd felt her skin under his fingers, watched as she drank tea in small sips and didn't wipe down the cafe for fingerprints. Whatever Arthur was thinking - whatever Arthur had got him thinking - was insane. Morgana wasn't a spy or a fugitive or anything like that. He'd seen her jump at the scary bits in The Omen, laugh so much she got red wine up her nose when he made a joke about squid. He'd fed her cheesecake from a tiny silver fork. She wasn't _dangerous_.

As if to personify his struggle, his mobile buzzed and his landline started ringing at the same time. He reached for the ringing phone first, hating himself a little for betraying her before he even knew the truth. But he had to know.

Leon's voice was tight as he confirmed his name and the company’s security details. He wanted to shout _just tell me_ down the phone but when they read back Morgana's details, his stomach dropped and he found he didn't want to know. But it was too late now. He couldn't hang up in time, he couldn't stop himself hearing;

"Morgana Le Fay, of 17 Ravenscourt Avenue, Hammersmith, does not exist. There hasn't been anyone of that name registered on the census for the last hundred and twenty years. Are you sure the information you provided us is correct?"

Leon cleared his throat, his mind spinning and his voice failing him. He picked up the mobile and checked the text.

_I was just about to call. I've found myself in a bit of a predicament, and I was hoping I could darken your door for a few hours? Be there in 5 :)_

He closed his eyes, putting the mobile to his forehead and breathing through what he was sure was a very bad dream.

"Sir?" the tinny voice on the phone prompted him and he belatedly remembered the security firm.

"Yes, thank you. Bye," he said, hanging up the phone, unable to recall what she'd asked him.

He looked at the text again, his eyes drawn to the bit that said _from: Morgana_. Was that even true?

A short but insistent knock came and he got up instinctively to open the door to a woman that apparently didn't exist.

-x-

The lift doors slid open revealing Arthur's office. Arthur's empty office. Merlin frowned and checked the window. It was just starting to get dark. Trust Arthur not to be working late on the one time he needed him there.

Merlin walked over to Arthur's desk, blessedly ignoring the paperwork that was scattered over it. He'd had just about enough of numbers for the day. He fished in the drawer for Arthur's spare set of keys, kept there on the off chance this should ever happen.

Merlin let himself out of the office and out of the building, taking stairwells where possible and exiting through the car park. Anyone casually watching the security footage would hopefully assume he was just an employee working late.

He'd been to Arthur's apartment several times, always with Arthur leading the way but it was the penthouse suite on one of the more outstanding tower blocks in the area so it was pretty hard to miss. It was when he got to Arthur's door that he found himself unsure.

What was he going to say? _Are you sleeping with my Commander?_ or _Are you selling her your soul?_ Merlin wasn't quite sure which bothered him more. Both, he supposed. Either.

He knocked on the door, hoping Arthur would be a while answering it and that when the time came, he'd know what to say. But Arthur seemed to be right behind the door and he opened it way too soon, leaving Merlin standing there, silent.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked before dragging him in. "Thank Christ it's you."

"Who were you expecting?" Merlin asked, only the barest sharp edge to his voice.

"Nobody," Arthur said before sighing. "The Knights of Hell, maybe, I don't know."

"So, it's true then," Merlin muttered, walking past Arthur into his apartment. He needed a drink. Or something. Anything to give him something else to focus on.

"What's true?" Arthur asked to his retreating back.

"You're in talks to trade in your soul with Morgana," Merlin said, looking about the place for a posh table with glass-cut tumblers and a decanter, and getting annoyed when he couldn't find one. Who kept an array of drinks at their work and not a single one in their home, for Hell's sake?

"She came to my-" Arthur started but Merlin didn't need to hear it. He could already work everything out from his face.

"Well, that's fine. Good even. She needs a soul, it might as well be yours," Merlin muttered passive-aggressively, giving all the tables and antique furniture one last look, finding nothing to distract him. "We're only in this mess because she couldn't leave well enough alone anyway. It's good of her to fix it."

"Merlin, what are you talking about?" Arthur asked, strolling over to a cabinet in his open-plan kitchen and pulling out two glasses. "What do you want to drink? You look like an alcoholic in rehab."

"Anything. Whatever you've got." Merlin shrugged. "I really don't care."

Arthur poured him a measure of Bell's and handed him the glass. "Now will you please tell me what the Hell is going on because I sure as Hell don't know."

Merlin winced at the repeated referencing of his home and took a large gulp of the drink, handing the empty glass back to Arthur. "You're making a deal with Morgana and apparently, it's not only a business arrangement."

"What?" Arthur said, choking on his own drink. "I'm not making a business arrangement with her and I'm certainly not sleeping with her. Jesus, Merlin, she's a de-"

Arthur cut himself off, his eyes widening under Merlin's glare. "I didn't mean like that. You're different. You wouldn't barge into my office, list all the awful things I've done and try to convince me I was the perfect fit for Hell. You're... different," Arthur said again uselessly.

"I'm really not. The other day I sold a seamless murder to a seven year old. I'm a demon, Arthur, or didn't you notice? I only know you because of the deal I made with your father, the one where I caused terrible things to happen to make him money, remember? I'm still working that one off, for you."

"I know but he... he asked for it. He summoned you. He made the deal, I know what he was like, alright?" Arthur said, starting to argue back, even though he wasn't entirely sure what they were arguing about. "And I know what I'm like too, believe me, but I never asked her to come to me and I told her no, alright?"

Merlin stopped in his tracks, vaguely remembering how Morgana had got upset about her soul refusing her a deal. "You said no. Why?"

Arthur shrugged, pouring himself a drink in Merlin's empty glass. "The things she said, I couldn't imagine anything worse."

"I can imagine," Merlin said. Hell was quite a tricky sales pitch, even for a Commander. "Were you not even tempted though?"

Merlin looked up at him from under his lashes; having gone from jealousy over Morgana to hoping that there was even a tiny part of Arthur that would consider-

"No," Arthur said shortly, dashing Merlin's hopes.

"Oh," Merlin said, not sure what to say to that. Could he say that he'd been tempted, very tempted and he'd given into that temptation to the point of murder? Did Arthur know that? Had Morgana explained how it went down, the conversion? Did Arthur know he was a murderer? Is that why he wouldn't even consider it?

Merlin felt his eyes glow gold and Arthur frowned, pulling him close. He didn't know - or at least Merlin hoped he didn't know - why his eyes flashed gold sometimes but he knew they usually only did it when Merlin was thinking badly about himself, what he'd done.

Merlin let Arthur hug him, it was a right sight better than having his whole race being called names and his home being unequivocally dismissed by Arthur as somewhere he'd never call home.

"Maybe if you'd asked..." Arthur mused, pulling back and kissing him. "But not for her. And not for me. For you."

Merlin kissed him back, fiercer than he usually would in the middle of an argument. There was a human saying; that one would go to Hell and back for their love. It was good to know Arthur would go to Hell and stay.

"Have you ever thought about it? Asking me, I mean," Arthur asked, breaking the kiss but keeping Merlin close, as if he knew how close to losing him he was coming. Even though he couldn't possibly know. Only Merlin knew what would happen if they were discovered.

"Maybe," Merlin said, the prospect becoming ever more appealing, even though he knew he couldn't ask; not now he knew Arthur's feelings about it. "Once or twice. There are some good points, I promise."

"Maybe you can tell me about them sometime. Or better yet, get a phone and then this wouldn't be such a _long_ distance thing. But I have a better idea for the moment," Arthur said, his hands running down to the small of Merlin's back.

"Mmm, I think that's the best idea you've ever had," Merlin said, grabbing a fistful of Arthur's shirt, much to Arthur's protests about some designer or other, and pulling him in for another breathless kiss.

-x-

“Leon!” Morgana said, throwing herself into Leon’s arms the instant the door was open wide enough to get through. All the worry and hopelessness she’d felt drained away for the few seconds in which he held her, tighter than anyone had ever held her, like she might slip away any moment. But then he let go.

“We need to talk,” he said, taking a step away from her.

“We do?” Morgana asked, stepping through the door properly so he could close it. Her stomach had dropped at his serious tone, even more serious than he was usually. Which was worrying. Was he going to break up with her? She couldn’t blame him, after everything, but he’d... he’d held her hand; he’d made her think he wouldn’t leave her. Morgana bit her lip, preparing for the worst. Maybe if she did it first, it wouldn’t hurt so much. She’d always known she’d have to leave him. “We do.”

“We should sit down,” Leon said, directing her over to his sofa. The sofa they’d kissed on. The couch they’d nearly made love on. Oh Hell, she couldn’t do this.

“If this is going to be bad news, tell me now...” she said, lingering in his living room without actually taking a seat.

“I know you’re not who you say you are,” Leon said bluntly. Morgana looked at him, staring straight at him but he didn’t look away. He really did know. “You’re not Morgana Le Fay.”

“I-” Morgana started but the words wouldn’t come. How could he know? And what must he think? What could she say to make it sound better than it did without making it sound worse?

“If you’re not her, who are you?” he asked, giving her a rope to cling onto. If she just told him who she was, would he forgive her?

“I am Morgana. Really. That bit’s true. The _Le Fay_ bit isn’t, I’m sorry. I needed a last name, we don’t have last names in my family,” she said, shaking because she was saying it, the truth. And not as part of some lie either. “I’m not like you, Leon. I’m not like any of you.”

Leon looked away and she felt like she’d been released from a noose at full tension. She still couldn’t breathe properly but she _could_ breathe again.

“What do you want with Arthur? You don’t work for the Times, I phoned and asked,” Leon said to the ground.

Morgana swallowed, even though she was prepared for that aspect of her cover story to fail her since day one, she didn’t call on her rehearsed lie. “I needed his soul.”

Leon looked up like she’d fired a gun. “What?”

“I wanted him to sell me his soul,” Morgana repeated, everything rising up now like nausea, like she’d be sick if she didn’t spill her guts now. “I’m a demon, Leon. But it’s not how you think. I’m not evil, I promise. I didn’t mean him any harm; I was going to... reward him? I don’t know, this was all a lot simpler before I met you, it felt like I was giving him a promotion, now it feels like I’m... lying.”

“That’s because you _are lying_ , just tell me who you are really,” Leon said, shaking his head. “If there’s a good reason for all this, like you’re under witness protection or something, anything, just tell me and I won’t care that you lied.”

“I’m not lying,” Morgana said, her mouth falling open because there was no other way to tell the truth. “I am a demon. The super religious family I told you about: demon royalty. The reason I’ve never kissed a man before: because I am a demon. The reason I disappear for days and don’t answer my phone: because there is no signal in Hell. Leon, I’m telling you the truth.”

“You can’t be,” Leon said, running a hand over his beard, shaking his head. “You’re either lying or mad and I don’t think you’re mad.”

“When I told you to let me into the office, I was trying to hypnotise you. Usually it works. And in the restaurant, when I said I was psychic, I’m not, I could smell the fish and the white sauce,” Morgana said, grabbing for every time she’d risked him finding out by either showing off or forgetting. “I can hear the people three floors down from you having an argument about the fact that she’s bought another set of shoes. Her name’s Linda, isn’t it? He’s thinking about leaving her but he’s only _thinking_ it, not saying it but I can hear it because I’m telepathic. And the people above you are watching a film with a lot of sword fighting, I can hear the clanging. She’s hoping to get laid. He hasn’t told anyone he’s gay yet. And before I got here you were eating a chicken and ham pie. You cooked it in the microwave; I can still feel the energy.”

Morgana took a breath, searching around for more things she could use as proof in this world where she was bound by the laws of physics and finding nothing. She moved onto the rest of her story quickly, getting it out while she had the chance and the courage. “And about six days ago I killed a demon. His name was Cedric. He belonged to Merlin, my friend, who mentored me into becoming the Commander I am today. He was plotting to kill my friend and he tried to kill me so I killed him and I tried to cover it up but now they know everything and they’re coming for me. I had to run,” Morgana explained before a thought hit her. “Oh, look. When someone kills a demon, they take their energy and absorb it. It makes their eyes glow gold sometimes.”

Morgana closed her eyes and thought on Cedric, on the look on his face when she let him fall to the ground. She opened her eyes and felt the gold move through them, like he was peeking out.

Leon took a step back, nearly walking into the armchair that sat at an acute angle to the sofa, the arms touching, like they were holding hands. He shakily sat in it as Morgana closed her eyes again, trying to get them back to green. “I don’t mean to scare you,” she said sadly. “But you wanted the truth.”

“You can’t be a demon,” Leon said but there was no conviction to it. “They aren’t real.”

“They are, I mean, I am,” Morgana said, sitting down on the sofa at an angle so she could still face him, his face only a few feet away. “But we aren’t how you think. We don’t have horns and we don’t have red skin. We’re just like you really only we lack so much. All we do have is the need to get further, climb the ladder, harvest more souls, more power. It’s all that keeps us going because we have _nothing_ else, I didn’t realise that until I met you. We can’t _feel_ or at least, we’re not supposed to but I do now. I _love_ you and I know it’s stupid because you barely know me but you’re so special, even compared to other humans. I can’t help but love you and because of that, I can’t go home right now. I can’t leave you. Please. I promise it’s the truth. I swear on whatever soul I do have. I swear on my life. I might be crazy but I’m not lying.”

Morgana fell silent, she’d said everything she could think of and all she was left with were things she couldn’t explain. She wiped away the tears that had fallen while she’d been speaking and Leon caught her hands.

“You win,” he said quietly and Morgana frowned.

“I don’t understand,” she said but she clung into his hands. She was never letting go of them again.

“You win,” he said again. “I can’t top that.”

Morgana smiled, remembering every other time he’d taken her hands and _seen_ her problems and _raised_ her his own. It was his way of accepting her and showing her something about him in return. He might not have anything to show right now but he still... he was laying down his hand which meant... “You believe me?”

“I believe you,” Leon said, squeezing her hands. “Or at least, I’m as mad as you are because even if that’s true – no, even if it’s all lies – I _still_ believe you and I _still_ want to make this work. If the armies of Hell come knocking on my door demanding you back, I want to be able to say _no, she’s mine_. Can I do that?”

Morgana opened her mouth to speak but tears were in her throat as well as running down her face and all she could manage was a small strangled sound so she nodded instead, until Leon grabbed her face by the cheeks and kissed her, stopping her nodding but not stopping the _yes_ that she was screaming inside her head.

Her head started to spin again but she didn’t care, she didn’t need to breathe, she just needed to keep kissing him through the heady haze of it all. His tongue brushed over her bottom lip and she met it with her own, he tasted of the white sauce from the pie he’d eaten but she didn’t care, all her heightened senses were absorbing him and she couldn’t get enough, the taste of him, the scent of him, the feel of his shirt under her hands, the sound of his breathing, which he somehow managed to do at the same time as kiss her. If she opened her eyes she would be able to see each golden flecked hair and each eyelash and each _everything_ but she couldn’t, it was like he’d completely short circuited her.

She tried to lean in closer but the arm of the sofa stopped her, pressing into her stomach. Leon didn’t seem to notice because his hands were gripping her waist, trying to pull her into him. She broke the kiss and looked down at the barrier between them before climbing over it, hiking up her dress and pushing Leon back in the chair so she could straddle his lap.

His eyes followed her hand and for a moment she thought he was looking at her exposed skin but she’d worn a lot less to keep up with modern trends. “What?”

“Your dress, that’s the one you wore when we met,” he noted. “I thought it was strange then but now... is it like a demon thing? Is that what they wear in Hell?”

Morgana laughed and reached for the fastenings on the back of it. “No. It’s just been a long time since I thought to go shopping. A really long time.”

“A hundred and twenty years,” Leon said knowingly and Morgana frowned in thought, distracted by Leon helping her pull her dress over her head.

“About that,” she said with a shrug, dumping the dress on the sofa and thanking the stars that she’d stuck with the modern bra, rather than her corset.

“You really are-” he started but he stopped himself, shaking his head. “It doesn’t even matter.”

Morgana smiled, leaning down to kiss him again, whispering, “Nothing matters,” against his lips.

She titled her hips forward, pressing down into him and feeling him hard against her. Her breath hitched as it sent a jolt of lust through her, like electricity. She wanted to kiss him again, with everything in her, kiss him and never stop but he caught her before she could.

“What we talked about before, I meant it,” he said, one hand on her cheek, holding her back slightly and the other stroking the small of her back, encouraging her almost.

“What?”

“When I said I’d wait-”

“Screw that,” she said before she could stop herself. She coughed and tried to sound demure as she said, “I mean, I don’t want to wait. I want to do this now. I’ve never wanted anything more. You don’t know how much, I’ve never felt anything like this, I _need_ you.”

“Well, don’t sit on the fence; is it a yes or a no?” Leon asked, grinning while Morgana felt like screaming in frustration. She needed to kiss him. She needed to feel that jolt again.

“Just kiss me,” she said instead, feeling that it was the safest answer, unbuttoning his shirt as quickly as she could to reinforce her answer.

“As my Lady wishes,” he said, bringing back memories of their first few days, back before it was complicated. For him at least, it had always been complicated for her. But he kissed her, his thumb running over her cheek and the hand on her back pulling her flush to him as she pushed his shirt completely off his shoulders, letting him finish taking it off for her.

For a moment Morgana wanted nothing else in the world but exactly this, she didn’t want to ever move. Then he tipped her backwards and a startled shriek escaped her before she realised he was standing and carrying her off somewhere. She changed her mind, locking her legs tight around him. She didn’t mind moving.

“You’re not kicking me this time, I notice,” Leon said as he carried her through a door.

“You weren’t carrying me to your bed before,” Morgana reasoned, kissing him again, determined to always be kissing him.

“True,” Leon managed to get out between kisses.

She yelped again when he unexpectedly dropped her on the bed, staying standing, just smiling down at her. She tried to smooth her hair back from her face, lacking any clothes to smooth down. She’d never felt bashful being naked before. Nobody had cared to look at her in the manner Leon was looking at her before.

“You’ve never been with a demon before either?” he asked her and she shook her head.

“I’ve not even been with myself before,” Morgana said, remembering the magazines she’d used as research.

“Then I promise, I will make it perfect for you,” he said, sinking to his knees at the bottom of his bed, like he was about to be knighted.

She tried to sit up, so she could see him properly but he laid a hand on her stomach, guiding her back down and gently keeping her there as he kissed up the inside of her thigh, hooking his other hand around the back of her knee, pulling her towards him until there was barely a breath between him and her underwear, her cunt. Her heart raced at the idea and she found herself getting that jolt even though he wasn’t even touching her there.

His hand moved down her stomach, trailing over the front of her knickers until they reached the spot where the jolt originated from and pressed down slightly, his fingertips rubbing her through the thin black material in a way that made her think her head was going to explode. He buried his face in her thigh, the roughness of his beard against her sensitive skin nearly too much for her.

Her hips bucked up of their own accord, trying to get more and she bit her lip, making a concentrated effort to keep them down like he wanted. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Leon said, smiling up at her, keeping eye contact as he moved both hands to pull her knickers down by their sides, Morgana raising each leg in turn to help him. “It’s a completely normal reaction. Go with what feels good.”

Morgana nodded, taking a steadying breath as he lowered his head again. She watched him with fascination as he kissed along her other thigh, working his way up, spreading her legs until they were splayed wide and her nervousness at being in only her underwear seemed silly now.

“Oh, fuck,” she exclaimed when he pressed a kiss to the lips of her cunt. Her hips rose and she couldn’t hold them down even if she wanted too. But he just hooked his arms under her thighs and moved up with her, varying the angle slightly and kissing her again.

This time, the tip of his tongue drew a line over her skin as he pulled back, like he did with her bottom lip when he kissed her mouth. She forced her hips back down, breathing heavily to try and control herself. He didn’t kiss her again and for a second she was relieved but the tip of his tongue kept on, tracing along one side of her cunt and then the other and now she was getting used to such a strange touch, she wanted more.

“Leon...” she said, his name elongating like a plea and he answered it with a firmer, broader stroke of his tongue but it still wasn’t enough. She fisted her hands in the sheets, pushing down with everything she had. It still wasn’t enough. “Leon, please,”

He made a small sound, possibly in agreement and his tongue glided over the spot that had sent sparks through her before. She loosened her grip on the bedding, placated by the gentle but constant touch of his mouth on her.

“How’s that?” Leon asked, pausing for a second, propping his chin up on her mound.

“Nice, good, don’t stop,” Morgana said, raising her head, missing it already.

“I won’t...” Leon reassured her, pressing another kiss to her clit. “But this might hurt, just a little, alright?”

“Ok,” Morgana nodded, pain nothing new for her.

“If you want to take a moment or... or stop altogether, tell me and we will.”

“Ok,” Morgana said again but she was fairly sure nothing would ever make her want to stop.

“Ok,” Leon repeated, lowering his head and licking along her cunt again, circling her clit with his tongue.

The small pain came when Leon pressed his fingers to her again, like before but this time, one of them pushed further, breaching her. She breathed through it, it wasn’t too painful, it was just new and it stung like a new scratch.

“Ok?” he asked again, his voice muffled because he didn’t raise his head all the way and he went back to her clit straight away, to keep the nice feeling going.

“Mmm,” she said because she didn’t quite trust herself with words in case her tone gave her away. It was ok and she didn’t want him to stop but she couldn’t pretend it didn’t hurt at all.

He moved the finger inside her, teasing at another spot that felt nice and made her forget about the discomfort for a while. When he took his hand away and left her empty, she found herself wanting the feeling back again.

But it was soon replaced with another, two together and the discomfort returned and passed again with time and patience. Leon pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh as once again he left her empty. She felt three fingertips press against her entrance and this time, she reached for his hand. It had been an age since she'd seen him properly, kissed him. And she couldn't imagine any discomfort that wouldn't pass if she was kissing him.

"Leon, I'll be fine, let's just..." she trailed off, there was no romantic way for her to say it.

"Are you sure?" Leon asked but he didn't do as she commanded.

"Yes, I'm sure," she affirmed but he still didn't move.

Instead he nodded and buried his face in her cunt again, licking her like he had before but with more determined strokes of his tongue until the pleasant warm feeling turned into a burning, like she was being consumed from the inside out. It worked its way through her body, this fire, starting at the source and spreading outwards until all of a sudden it broke over her like a wave and the calm returned, leaving her shaking and breathless.

"Satan preserve me, what the Hell was that?" Morgana gasped, looking down at Leon to make sure all was still good.

"You came," Leon filled in helpfully.

"I wasn't aware I was going somewhere," Morgana muttered, slightly dazed.

"Do you want to try it again?" Leon asked, smiling up at her.

"Oh no, I'll perish for certain."

Leon laughed outright at that, not cruelly, just honestly finding her funny. "It's ok, completely normal. You'll get used to it."

Morgana smiled sadly, would she? Nothing was certain but she was fairly sure this couldn't last forever, a demon hiding under a human's duvet for the rest of eternity. But she didn't want to bring the reality of their situation to light so she just held out her hands to him and pulled him up off the floor, forgetting her strength for a moment.

With his body over hers and his eyes looking into hers, it didn't seem so impossible. She reached between them and unbuckled his belt, logically unsure of what she was doing but instinct drove her on pretty well and between them, they got his trousers and her bra off, so they were both as naked as nature itself.

She felt the head of him press against her, guided by their hands together so that she could hold him back if she needed. But she didn't. It burned again, a different kind of burn but she had endured worse in her long life and she couldn't compare it to a battle wound or a knife in the back. It was a necessary pain and she bore through it, determined to see it to the end.

When there wasn't any further for him to go, Leon kissed her, distracting her and reaching a hand between their bodies to her clit, gently circling it with his fingers. After a moment of adjustment, Morgana experimentally rocked her hips, as she had under his mouth. It didn't quite work the same, it just moved her body around his, taking him in further and then pushing back again. It wasn't better or worse as such, it just made it different. But Leon's breath caught and he braced himself on the bed like he hadn't expected it and she did it again, enjoying his reaction.

After a few gentle rocks, he smiled down at her, raising an eyebrow. "She's a top girl, who would have thought it?"

"What?" Morgana asked, confused, not quite sure how she was being complimented, only that she was.

Leon didn't answer except to roll so he was on his back, pulling Morgana with him. She scrambled up onto her knees, her body reacting before her mind could, years of battle experience keeping her perfectly balanced.

"Try now," Leon said, his hands coming to rest on her hips.

Morgana shrugged and found his cock again with her hand, guiding it into herself.

"Here," he said, taking one of her hands as an anchor, giving her leverage.

She rolled her hips, gasping at the change. She felt him so much more now, impossibly deep. She braced her other hand on his chest and leaned down slightly, so that she could occasionally kiss him but for a while it just became the rock of her hips, the clasp of his hand, his heart getting faster and faster under her splayed palm. She could never imagine wanting to go back. How could any demon, knowing that humans had this. Sex and love and all the mess that came with it – that was what kept them going.

 _That_ was what she needed to keep herself going.

-x-

Morgana screwed her eyes up tight against the thumping on the door. She was getting really sick of being woken up in such a manner; she was a commander for Hell's sake-

She opened her eyes, remembering she wasn't at home. She wasn't even on the same plane as home. She was on the Other side, her head resting on the chest of a sleeping human. A human that knew everything.

"Leon!" she whispered as loudly as she could before sitting up and prodding his side. "Leon, are you expecting someone? An army perhaps?"

Leon looked at her through sleepy eyes, smiling as if she was the sun for a second. Then he heard the hammering and his face fell. "Not that I know of. You?"

"Nobody knows I'm here," Morgana said, biting her lip with worry because that wasn’t entirely true.

"I better go see what's going on," Leon decided, reaching for the trousers he'd discarded the night before. Morgana caught him with one foot in them and nearly pulled him over as she kissed him. She couldn’t bear to send him out there if that was anything other than the postman at the door.

"You're not going anywhere," she decided, kneeling up to follow him as he tried to stand, the duvet falling away from her body as she rose.

"It might be an emergency," Leon said, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from getting any further.

Morgana frowned, no emergency would have gotten her out of his bed if she had the choice but she didn't want to leave his side. She'd nearly lost him one too many times already. "Alright, throw me a shirt, I'm coming with you."

Leon passed her his crumpled shirt and finished doing up his trousers, one eye staying on her. She crawled off the bed and started down the hallway to his door without him.

"Whoever's behind that door better not have a weak heart!" he shouted after her and in response she raised her arms, trying to touch the ceiling, making the shirt hitch up above the curve of her bare arse. He ran back to his room to fetch her underwear and prayed she didn't answer the door as she was. But she waited dutifully in the hallway for him to catch up and accepted her knickers with a shrug, slipping them on just as the knocking turned into outright banging.

Leon opened the door to three faces – two men and a woman – he didn't recognise and glanced back at Morgana, just hidden out of their eye line, before he asked, "Can I help you?"

"Morgana," one of the men said and Leon shook his head, doing his best to smile.

"No, sorry, my mother was a bit unconventional but she went with Leon in the end," Leon answered, smiling brightly as if sheer obstinance could make them go away.

"Sir, we believe you are harbouring a fugitive, Commander Morgana of Division B, we insist you hand her over," the other man said.

The smile fell from Leon's face and he crossed his arms, putting himself right in the doorway, blocking their path. "Or what?"

"Or we'll have to remove her by force," the first man spoke again.

Morgana could see Leon's feet spread a little, really rooting himself to the spot. She couldn't blame Arthur for hiring him as a bodyguard, even though she knew they wouldn't win a fight, he radiated _protection_ like an alpha wolf. Or her lion.

The two men still pushed past him, their strength easily restraining him. The woman came forward and Morgana felt hate curl inside her. "Sophia, you bitch, this was your idea."

"And I said I'd come for you," Sophia answered, grabbing Morgana's hand as she raised it, slapping a handcuff over the bone of her wrist painfully. She clicked it into place, securing the other one to her own wrist so that Morgana couldn't even run without taking Sophia with her.

"Come on boys, kill the primitive and get moving, I have a division to command," Sophia said coldly, highlighting her plan to Morgana.

"Leon!" Unable to get away from her, Morgana used all her strength to pull them both down and used her body to pin Sophia to the floor. She wrapped her uncuffed hand around Sophia's throat and squeezed. "Take that order back or I'll find myself chained to a corpse."

The men looked from Leon to Sophia and back again. They wouldn't disobey a direct order even if it meant saving a life. Demons just weren't wired that way.

Sophia scrabbled at her hand, starting to turn red in the face but she still didn't relent.

"If he dies, you die, do you want to die?" Morgana asked again, making her threat absolutely clear.

Sophia looked away and shook her head. Morgana released her, letting her skull thud back against the wooden floor.

"If I let him live, will you come quietly?" Sophia asked, her voice croaky and cracked.

"Like a lamb to the slaughter, now call them off," Morgana promised.

"Alright, let him go," Sophia said, starting to rise. True to her word, Morgana got off her and stood up, letting her do the same. But she didn't offer her a hand nor did she feel ashamed when Sophia rubbed at the red mark around her neck. She didn't care about the betrayal or the spying, she should have been more careful, she only had herself to blame for buying into Sophia's lies. What she did care about was Leon and the split lip he'd gotten while she was choking Sophia.

She followed her captors sullenly, looking at Leon as she approached him.

"I'll find a way-" Leon started but Morgana shook her head. There was no end of that sentence she would have liked. She didn't want Leon following her or getting himself into trouble.

"Don't," she said, bringing her free hand up to his lips. "Just remember that I was human for a while... with you."

Leon surged forward, nearly knocking her off balance and kissed her. Like he might never kiss another woman. And she kissed him, knowing she would never love again.

"Alright, come on, this isn't The Notebook," Sophia said, tugging on the cuffs until Morgana had no choice but to pull away and follow her. She looked back every step of the way until Sophia slammed the door shut behind them.

She'd always known it would come to this, from the second she realised she was falling for a human and still went back for more. But whatever they might do to her, it was worth it because Leon was alive and he knew who she really was and he loved her anyway.

-x-

Merlin woke with a shock, like he’d had a nightmare, only demons didn’t really have nightmares. If they did, they’d probably be the kind that would traumatise a human. No, it was more an impending sense of dread, like he knew something bad was going to happen. Then he remembered; something bad had already happened.

“Arthur, I need to go,” Merlin said, trying to separate himself from Arthur’s various limbs. “I didn’t actually mean to stay, so can you move please... ARTHUR GET UP!”

“What?” Arthur asked blearily, moving enough so that Merlin could extradite himself from the bedding.

“I need to go, there was a _catastrophe_ back home and I sort of... forgot,” Merlin admitted guiltily. “I should really get back to it.”

“How can you forget a catastrophe?” Arthur asked, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up.

“You didn’t exactly help,” Merlin muttered, following the line of the sheet with his eye as it slipped a little further down as Arthur rolled onto his back. “No. Leaving. I have to leave.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Arthur said, completely confused.

“I know,” Merlin assured him, picking up his fallen clothes and ending up with half of Arthur’s. “I’m just telling myself. Making sure I know.”

“What’s so bad that you’re considering being seen in public in my jeans?” Arthur said, grabbing them off him and reaching down the other side of the bed for Merlin’s black trousers.

Merlin took them and inclined his head in thanks. “My commander, the one you met, Morgana-”

“Hold on, _she’s_ your commander?” Arthur interrupted.

“Yes, didn’t I say? Well, she’s my commander. And she’d been hoisted from her command and she doesn’t even know it. It’s not official yet though which means sooner or later, something big is going to go down, either a fight or a trail,” Merlin explained.

“What would they put her on trial for? I thought everything was fair game for your kind?” Arthur asked, trying to stop his tone from being judgemental. He pulled on his jeans, as he was holding them anyway and followed Merlin to the kitchen.

“Only when dealing with your kind,” Merlin shot back in the same tone before softening. “It’s a pretty long list, starting with deception, fraud and working her way up to murder and treason. Sophia tried to imply she’s been fraternising with a human too which is even more likely to get her locked up than the rest. But she wouldn’t be that stupid.”

“Wait, what?” Arthur said, freezing in his tracks.

“I said, she wouldn’t be that stupid. I mean, if she was going to start having relations with humans, she’d cover her tracks better, surely, like I do. She knows what happens to demons that-” Merlin stopped in his tracks, realising he was in fact talking out loud to the human he was having relations with. Fuck.

“It’s dangerous for you to be with me?” Arthur asked and Merlin could hear his heart thudding away in his chest, he could hear him swallow nervously.

“You knew that, I tell you often enough,” Merlin lied, twisting half-truths to try and backpedal.

“You implied it could be used against you politically, you didn’t say it could be held up as evidence in a court!” Arthur protested. “What would the sentence be, if you were found guilty?”

“I don’t know,” Merlin said, turning back to the kitchen.

“Tell me,” Arthur insisted, following him.

“I really don’t know. Nobody’s ever been found guilty and come back. I assume they’re put in The Cage, it’s sort of a blanket punishment over there,” Merlin opened the cabinet and took out a glass so he didn’t have to meet Arthur’s eyes.

“So what you’re basically saying is _nobody has lived to tell the tale_?” Arthur asked, following Merlin to the sink.

“No,” Merlin said, filling the glass with water. “What I’m saying is nobody ever talks about it. And it’s not a death sentence, I’d still live, I just wouldn’t be free.”

“For how long?” Arthur asked, following him over to the table.

“Potentially forever,” Merlin said quickly, following it with, “Can I have an apple?”

“Fuck the apple,” Arthur yelled before taking a breath. “I mean, yes, help yourself. But fuck, Merlin, why are you only just telling me this now, it’s been five years. How many times could you have got caught?”

“I’m careful,” Merlin insisted, plucking a red apple from the bowl and taking a bite out of it, starting to look for his next distraction but Arthur kept following him.

“What would have happened? Would you have just left one day and never come back? Would I have ever known what had happened and that it was my fault?”

“It’s not _your_ fault,” Merlin said between mouthfuls. “It’s a class thing, like segregation. It’s a stupid bloody law anyway, what does it matter to them who I love?”

“What?”

Merlin swallowed a chunk of apple before he choked on it. “Who I’m with, I mean.”

Arthur stared at him for a moment before he took the apple off him and set it down on the table, taking his hand. “You know in five whole years, you’ve never said that.”

“That I’m with you? I’m sure I have...”

“That you love me. You said demons don’t do love,” Arthur said, beaming like an idiot.

“They don’t. I mean, I don’t. Didn’t. Oh, I don’t fucking know, I’m having a very stressful week, alright? So what if I love you, does it even matter?” Merlin argued, feeling himself turn red.

“Nope,” Arthur said, keeping a straight face for a second as he shrugged. “Not to me. I’ve known for years.”

“Oh, sod off,” Merlin said, smiling despite himself when Arthur laughed. He was a demon, he shouldn’t blush or feel butterflies or have a clawing need to have Arthur say it back.

“You sod off, you’re the one that dragged me out of bed at silly o’clock because you needed to leave,” Arthur reminded him.

“See, I told you it’s your fault I forget things like that,” Merlin said before begrudgingly pulling him in for a kiss. “If I’m not back later then-”

“Assume you’ve been locked up for sodomy like it’s the 1800s again. Shall do,” Arthur said, a heavy cloud of worry underlying his light tone.

“Then Morgana’s in trouble, I was going to say,” Merlin finished, giving Arthur a look. “Bye, prat.”

“Bye, love,” Arthur said, grinning at Merlin’s glare.

Merlin got all the way to the door before he heard Arthur calling his name. He turned with his eyebrow raised, he’d welcome another kiss, he’d do something creative with that apple if he was going to get teased again. “What?”

“I meant what I said last night, that if you’d been the one to ask me, I would have considered it,” Arthur said solemnly. “And if Morgana really is in trouble and she needs my soul, I’d let you have it for her.”

Merlin let go of the door handle, walking the few paces between them faster than he’d ever moved when confined to Earth’s laws of physics. When the gap was closed, he found himself in Arthur’s arms, kissing him like he was trying to melt into him. For a second, he feared he might. He’d never _felt_ so much before. Between all that and the intense kiss, he was sure he’d explode. But he managed to pull himself away and breathe, “I hope it won’t come to that.”

“I don’t know, I’ve always said we should move in together,” Arthur joked.

“Alright, let me go then otherwise you’ll regret wishing it on yourself,” Merlin said, tearing himself away from Arthur’s embrace so he could do everything in his power to stop that happening. The only thing was, right now, he couldn’t think of any other options. And he wasn’t even sure it would help.

-x-

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Merlin muttered over and over until it wasn't enough and he shouted it, kicking a hole through the nearest wall. Nobody would tell him what was going on and the little bits of hearsay weren't enough.

He was waiting for his security clearance to be approved before they would let him see her. He was lucky they'd not put her straight in the Cage for running like she did. Finally the doors opened, modern automatic ones leading down into a prison so archaic it made Merlin think of the time when he'd been human.

He took a torch from the stairwell, knowing Morgana wouldn't have been afforded such a luxury as light. After five flights of stairs and ending up much further underground than he ever wished to find himself, he heard her. He smiled at the sound of her irate tone and some of the creative new threats she'd learned from spending a few days on the Other side. Merlin almost felt sorry for the guard.

He found her in a cage on level seven, though thankfully it was made only to hold her and was only warded against demonic strength. She rushed to the bars when she saw him and again, his breath was taken away because she was crying. Actual tears. Again.

Merlin shook his head, setting aside his fascination for a moment. "How bad is it?"

Morgana looked down, studying the rusted bars. "Pretty bad."

Merlin waited for a moment until he realised she wasn't going to be forthcoming. "Morgana, I can't help you if I don't know what it is I'm fighting against here."

She turned away from him, staring at the back wall instead. "They found me with a human."

"With?" Merlin asked, knowing she couldn't possibly have been talking to Arthur because he was _with_ Arthur.

"In the biblical sense," Morgana muttered, just loudly enough for Merlin to catch it.

"Morgana," Merlin started in exasperation but not for what she'd done, that would make him Hell's biggest hypocrite. It was more that she'd picked such a time to do it and that she'd gotten caught. But he reined his disbelief back in.

"Is that why the casual dress?” he asked, nodding down to the shirt she was wearing. Morgana glared back at him and tugged the shirt down as far as it would go. “Anything else?"

"The lying and the forged paperwork are true but most of that was Sophia. I'd never dream of committing treason, Morgause is my... sister," Morgana said, catching herself in time. "And you know the story behind the murder charges but they wouldn't listen even if I told them, so what’s the point?"

"I could speak on your behalf?" Merlin offered, curling his fingers around a bar.

"No, I don't want you getting into trouble too." Morgana turned back to him, wiping her eyes. "Besides, it would just add more deception and conspiracy charges. And murder is a drop in the ocean compared to everything."

Merlin inclined his head, she wasn't lying. "What are you going to do?"

She shrugged and smiled sadly. "Nothing. There's nothing I can do. Except..." she hesitated.

"What?" Merlin prompted, reaching through the bars to take her hand. Any hope. Any small comfort he could give her.

"Find Arthur Pendragon, the soul I was after, all the details are in a file in my desk-"

"Yes, I know who he is," Merlin said, trying to speed her up. If she had a plan then they needed to act quickly. He tried to ignore the urge to ask her about Arthur, now was not the time.

"Find his office. He has a bodyguard called Leon-"

"Leon?" Merlin interrupted before he could stop himself. _Leon_ was the human. She was sleeping with _Leon_. How the Hell did that happen? And how was he going to help? "Sorry, go on."

"I need you to tell him what will happen to me," Morgana begged. "The truth. All of it. He knows everything."

Merlin stared at her for a second. "That's your plan? No defence, no nothing, just _tell the human goodbye_?"

Morgana shrugged hopelessly and Merlin turned away, biting his lip. Arthur had said if the worse came to the worst... Could he let Arthur become a demon? Could he let Morgana be condemned to the Cage? Could he stand to be under Sophia's rule?"

"Jesus fucking Christ," Merlin muttered, so stressed he was taking on human blasphemies. He took a few steps away from the cage Morgana was in. He was counting in his earlier assumptions about the warding on its door.

"No, don't go-" Morgana started but her words were drowned out by screaming metal, bending to Merlin's outstretched arm, his eyes burning gold as he pulled the door from its hinges and let it fall to the ground.

Morgana stared at it a second, raised an eyebrow at Merlin and then stepped over the twisted metal.

"Good to know my magic still works," Merlin said to himself before grabbing Morgana's hand. "Come on."

"You didn't know if your magic still worked? You were going to attempt a ritual basically using me as a sacrifice and _you didn't know_?" Morgana yelled, glaring at him.

"It's been a while since I needed it," Merlin argued as he pulled her up the stairs. "Will you please focus more on your escape? Thank you."

Morgana frowned but fell silent, the only sound from her being the slap of her bare feet on the stone steps and her breath coming in ragged gasps. When they got to the door letting them out into the open, Merlin paused. He’d been a warlock long before electricity had been a thing, metal he could work with but he had no clue how the mechanics of the door worked or how it would react to his magic.

Morgana leaned past him and pressed the release for the door, looking back at him and shrugging before grinning when it opened. “Unmanned technology, it’s better than human error.”

“Wonderful,” Merlin said, pushing her forward. “Now go!”

Morgana stumbled forward, through the door. This was officially now a break out, the likes of which Hell had never seen. Every demon sentenced had been punished; she didn’t even want to think about the punishment for escaping.

“Where?” she asked, fear starting to rise. “There’s nowhere to go.”

“Where did you kill Cedric?” Merlin asked, joining her and grabbing her hand again. She panicked less when she had someone holding her hand, he noticed.

“Outside Gateway 36,” Morgana said and then upon Merlin’s blank look added, “Gloucestershire, England.”

“Great,” Merlin rolled his eyes. “You couldn’t have picked Central London.”

“I wanted privacy,” Morgana defended herself, looking over her shoulder, aware of how exposed she was now.

“Alright, go there and wait for me. I might be a while but I promise, I will come to you and I will fix this.” Merlin squeezed her hand and let go when she nodded.

He watched her run until she was out of sight and then he turned and ran himself. His plan wasn’t mental, he told himself, it was the plan they’d always intended to use... more or less.

-x-

Morgana ran all the way to the gateway, trying her best not to look back. It wouldn’t be long before somebody noticed she’d broken out and right now, she didn’t doubt she was on everyone’s lips. Nobody would think twice about mentioning they’d seen her running through the halls of Hell like she had the Devil herself on her heels.

She made it to the cave, her bare feet slipping every so often on the wet stone but she didn’t fall. She couldn’t afford to fall now. When she saw light on the other side, she nearly collapsed in relief. She was away. She could still be followed but there were so many gateways dotted about Hell and the Other side, it would take them a while to figure out which one she’d used. If she was lucky, they’d assume she was running to London. If she was really unlucky, they might find Leon.

She threw herself on the ground, her lungs screaming because she _needed_ to breathe. Her head spun where she’d run so long and so far. The sky blurred in her vision until it mixed with the green of the trees and the white of the clouds and then it all faded to black for a time while she slept.

-x-

The lift doors opened to the wrong face and Merlin did his best to smile.

"Leon," Merlin said with a nod, not bothering to come up with a lie for why he was in Arthur's private elevator. "Where's Arthur?"

Leon stared at him for a few seconds and Merlin belatedly remembered they'd never actually met; Merlin had just made it his business to keep an eye on everyone in Arthur's life. Not a close enough eye apparently.

"Who are you exactly?" Leon asked but there was no real surprise in his voice. Merlin would wager he'd seen a lot in the last few days. Maybe the truth would be better.

"I'm Merlin, Morgana might have mentioned me. Bearing her in mind, can you tell me where Arthur is?"

This time, Leon did look surprised. "What does Arthur have to do with you?"

Merlin's nails bit into the flesh of his palm as he balled his fist. He didn't have time to explain what Arthur was to him. It would take him the better part of the afternoon to work it out himself.

"Just call him, will you?" Merlin said through clenched teeth. "I am trying to save your girlfriend; I don't have time to take you through it step by step."

"He's taken a personal day, I'll write down his address for you."

"No need, I know where he lives," Merlin said before Leon could move. He walked all the way back to the lift before remembering his promise. "Oh and Morgana said to tell you she wouldn't be coming back."

He saw Leon swallow tightly and frowned. That hadn't come out right. "What I mean is, she can't. And she doesn't want you to be miserable."

Merlin turned and Leon cleared his throat, halting him again.

"What's happened to her?" Leon asked and Merlin could tell it was a great effort for him.

He knew he shouldn't say, he knew too much already but Arthur words from this morning came back to him.

"She was arrested but I broke her out. I'm going to fix it so she can go home free and explain everything. Hopefully, we're worth more working than we would be locked away. Hell is pragmatic like that." Merlin swallowed down the near admission that he didn't really know what would happen when they returned to Hell.

"Does she have to go back?" Leon asked. "If there's a chance she could still be imprisoned, surely-"

"She's a demon," Merlin said and Leon looked away at the word. "It's not like she can just change sides when she feels like it. None of us can."

"But she's just one demon, we could run..."

"She's not just a demon though, she's a commander. Our highest rank. And before that, she's of Royal blood. A true daughter of Hell. She'd be missed, trust me. This past week proves that. If she hadn't drawn attention to herself-" Merlin cut himself off before he blamed her. He hated what had happened but he couldn't blame her for falling for a human.

Leon seemed to come to his own conclusion and strengthen his resolve again. "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing, just... do your best to forget her and everything she told you. She wouldn't want you to fall into the wrong hands and get yourself killed."

"I don't know if I can do that," Leon admitted and Merlin turned away again, calling the lift as he tried not to remember the year or so when he'd tried to forget about Arthur and the many times he'd failed.

"Try," Merlin said shortly, stepping through the lift doors.

-x-

It only took one bang on his door for Arthur to jump out of his chair and race to it, not that there wasn't at least three more to follow. He'd elected to work from home today, even though he had yet to actually do any work. He'd just played endless games of Minesweeper, trying not to think of Merlin every time the screen exploded with tiny little bombs.

He opened the door and though he was desperately relieved to see Merlin, the resigned look on his face made him swallow dryly.

"Good news or bad news?" Arthur asked even though he wasn't sure which was which anymore. He'd always thought he'd hate the idea of dying or leaving this world at the least but now he knew what Merlin risked every time he came to him, he was more worried about Merlin leaving him one day and never coming back.

"Depends," Merlin said with a thin attempt at his usual upbeat if slightly snarky tone. "How do you feel about a two and a half hour road trip to The Forest of Dean?”

Arthur nodded, taking in everything Merlin didn't say that weighed heavy in the air between them. "I'd better pack then. Is there anything I need to do... like fake my death or something?"

Merlin shook his head but he didn't laugh. "No, I'll take care of that after. I'll think of something."

Arthur studied him for a moment. "You really didn't plan for this, did you?"

Merlin shook his head again. "I never thought it would actually happen. I mean, I quite like the idea of you becoming like me, never dying and not having to lie all the time but then I also quite like the idea of Boris taking over the world so I don't know, no."

Arthur nodded, trying to take the idea of immortality in his stride. "What do I need then?"

Merlin shrugged and stepped past him, taking in his apartment and all his stuff. "Whatever you want to take. I can set you up with your own rooms or you could... stay with me, in mine."

"Would that be allowed?" Arthur asked, taking Merlin's hand. He didn't like how quiet he was being, even though it was completely understandable given the circumstances.

"Yeah, provided we were upfront about it. You'd be in my sector so it wouldn't be a conflict of interests and you'd be lowborn, like me, so the high ups wouldn't care. People might talk, it's not common for demons to take lovers, let alone fall in love. I think there have been five non-arranged couplings since I became a demon."

"You haven't always been a demon?" Arthur asked, the idea never having occurred to him before. He'd always though Merlin was a demon and that was that. Just like he was a human and that was that but that was about to change. So why couldn't Merlin have made the same change?

"No, I was a human once, ages ago. Things were different then, it wasn't nice and comfortable like this." Merlin blinked, ridding his eyes of a faraway look before closing them entirely. Arthur knew what he was closing them against though, the gold. Arthur wondered what colour his eyes might go, he was rather attached to the shade of blue they were now.

"I'd better get started then," Arthur decided, they had all the time in the world –or Merlin's world – to trade stories and there wasn't any sense putting off the inevitable.

-x-

When Morgana woke, the sky and the trees realigned themselves into the proper colours, like nothing had happened. She stayed still for a moment, tracking the movement of the sun. She’d lost a few hours at least and left out in the open, in nothing but Leon’s shirt and her underwear, she’d grown cold.

She shut down the receptors on her skin, blocking out the damp of the woods and the earthy smell. She couldn’t bear it. If they let her back, if they agreed to forget her indiscretions, she doubted she’d ever be allowed to return to this side. Not in Leon’s lifetime, at least. Perhaps one day but by then, the world would have changed again and she might have changed beyond recognition. As it was, she woke up this morning a different person. And the day before, she’d been changing. She couldn’t quite believe the person she’d been, looking back on herself. She understood it, of course, after lingering so long in the hands of others, she’d seized the chance Merlin gave her and clung onto it, made it her whole life. But there was only so far she could go and the last week had taught her, the only other way was down. It was a Hell of a game of Snakes and Ladders, for sure.

She cast her mind about, searching for Merlin and not finding him. She tried any human life but all she could sense for miles around were furry little forest creatures and she wasn’t about to become Snow White so she let them be. Bringing her knees up to her chest and tucking them under her shirt, she prepared herself for the wait. If she wanted to, she could drift in her mind, create operas for her own entertainment or read anthologies that she’d cast her eyes over centuries before, when they were new. She had every memory at her disposal, to relive at her leisure but all she could see when she closed her eyes was Leon.

-x-

“This is it,” Merlin said, a back road on the right catching his eye.

“Sat Nav says the next left,” Arthur frowned, flicking the screen before returning his hands to the wheel.

“Well, demonic portals, lay lines, all that stuff is a deal older and more reliable than the technological love child of The Muppets and an A-Z,” Merlin muttered, turning around in his seat to glare at the road as they sailed past it.

“You sure?” Arthur asked, not loving the idea of wandering around the back roads of Gloucestershire if they were wrong and trying to ignore the jibe at his custom voiced Bert and Ernie Sat Nav. It wasn’t even the right show.

“Do you know which road you live on?” Merlin asked with a shrug before sighing. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Alright,” Arthur said, taking on the same tone and shrugging in response. Arthur didn’t think he’d ever seen him wound so tight but then, he’d never had to spend three hours in a car with himself and half the cast of Sesame Street.

Arthur glanced in the rear view mirror, making sure the road was going to stay clear before he made a u-turn.

_“Turn around when possible! – Who, me? – I was taking to the driver, Bert – Oooooh.”_

Arthur glanced at Merlin, getting an eye roll in return. “I may as well turn it off if we don’t agree with it,” he muttered, hitting the power button and mentally apologising to it, the sinking thought that he might never drive again hitting him out of nowhere. But when he glanced at Merlin again, he smiled weakly and Merlin made an effort to smile back. It wasn’t going to be easy by any means, what they had to do, but Arthur wasn’t going to make it worse by over thinking it.

They’d spent the best part of the journey with Merlin explaining what it was he planned to do, quickly recapping what it was that had happened and what they were going to do when they were done. That was the part of the talk that was still worryingly short. What they would do after.

“We’ll have to walk the rest,” Merlin noted as the road turned into a parking bay and a footpath. Arthur nodded and pulled into a space at random, they were all empty. At least if it was quiet, they wouldn’t get disturbed.

He got out of the car and locked it, even though he knew he wouldn’t be coming back for it. Leon would though, so it wouldn’t do for it to be stolen. He chucked the keys to Merlin. He’d tie up all the loose ends.

“If anyone had told me I’d spend my last day on Earth doing a nature ramble, I’d have subscribed to National Geographic or something,” Arthur said, looking uneasily at the foot path.

“They’re only woods, not the Amazon rainforest. You’ll be fine, city boy,” Merlin teased him but took his hand anyway, leading him down the path.

-x-

Morgana blinked, brought out of her own head by the sound of snapping twigs. Somebody was coming. She’d gotten so wrapped up thinking about everything she’d miss that she’d completely missed the sounds of humans approaching. No, not _humans_ , one human, one demon. Merlin!

She stood up, brushing dirt of the once perfect white shirt of Leon’s. Merlin had already seen her like this and she cared less than nothing for modesty but humans had funny ideas about half naked women found in woods, some of them assumed victim while a handful would always wonder if it was something more dangerous. Like Devil worship, for example.

She waited nervously, knowing they were coming, even which direction they were coming from but not knowing exactly how long they’d take. It was like waiting for a bus, constantly wondering if you’d missed it even though you knew you couldn’t have. But then she saw him, pulling her sacrificial soul along by the hand and batting branches away to clear a path. How the Hell she’d gotten him was beyond her. Maybe his magic meant he didn’t need to give uninfluenced consent. Maybe he was hypnotised and hence the literal hand holding.

“Merlin! Over here!” she shouted, in case he couldn’t already see, hear, smell and feel her a mile off.

Merlin nodded, tugging on Arthur’s hand to get him to walk faster.

“Alright, don’t pull my arm off,” Arthur mutter. Perhaps he wasn’t hypnotised then.

As they got closer, Morgana couldn’t deny his expression was clear, if a bit disgruntled. He wasn’t influenced in any way she could discern. Typical. She spent a week planning and plotting – alright, and getting distracted and falling in love, but that wasn’t the point – to no avail and Merlin talks him around in under half a day. She really should have sent him in the first place; he’d never have fallen in love with a human. He was too sensible for that.

“Morgana, Arthur, Arthur, Morgana. I guess you met before under different circumstances,” Merlin said quickly, as if trying to sweep those circumstances under the rug.

“Thank you for doing this.” Morgana did her best to smile genuinely. She really was grateful to him, he was saving her life. Even if it meant she was confined back into the wrong life, it was still better than the Cage.

“It’s alright, I’m doing it for that idiot too,” Arthur said and Morgana raised her eyebrows, taking a second to connect the idiot he was referring to to Merlin. Merlin just shook his head and wandered off to the left.

“This is where it happened?” he asked, finding a spot that had been recently upheaved. Even though all the physical evidence of death had been taken away or purged from the ground, he could still smell the blood.

“About there, yes,” Morgana said, glancing back to the cave entrance and trying to remember that day. It seemed like a millennia ago and Morgana didn’t use the term lightly, she’d actually lived a millennia.

“Right,” Merlin said, picking up a leaf from the ground at random. “Bear with me a moment.”

Morgana gaped as he strolled over to the mouth of the cave, thinking for a second that he was actually leaving her. But he just dug around in the brush for a second and then pulled out a bag.

“I had a feeling we’d be doing this in unusual conditions,” Merlin said when he returned to them. “So here’s one I made earlier, as they say.”

Morgana stood back as he tipped the contents of the bag onto the ground. Out fell a dagger that looked at least as old as she was, several bottles containing substances she didn’t recognise and a oddly simple looking pestle and mortar. Kneeling down on the floor, he motioned for her and Arthur to follow his lead. Making an extended effort to look at least slightly graceful, she knelt, crossing her ankles and sitting on her heels. Arthur gave his trousers a brush and knelt on the other side of Merlin.

Merlin took the mortar and laid the leaf in its base before pouring the contents of a few of the bottles over it in what looked like no particular order.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Morgana asked as he ground the ingredients together. “It looks archaic.”

“It is archaic,” Merlin reminded her. “But it worked for me, didn’t it?”

Morgana shrugged and splayed one of her hands on the ground, her legs starting to cramp up. When the mixture became a thick but consistent paste, Merlin stopped and set the pestle down. “This is it then.”

Arthur nodded solemnly and Morgana swallowed, her heart in her mouth.

“Shirt,” Merlin instructed and oddly, Arthur didn’t blink, he just started unbuttoning his shirt. “And you,” he added, looking in her direction.

Morgana blushed, fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt. “Merlin, I don’t exactly have anything on under this, I’d rather not-“

“It’s nothing I’ve not seen before and you know it makes no difference to me what you’ve got under there,” Merlin interrupted her.

“I know,” Morgana admitted, she could never accuse Merlin of looking at her like that. Or anyone really. But it wasn’t just her and Merlin there. “I wasn’t thinking about you.”

“What?” Merlin said before remembering Arthur’s now shirtless presence. “He doesn’t care either.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do, trust me.”

“You can’t know that, he is a man after all,” Morgana protested, referring to his species rather than his gender, all humans were obsessed with sex. Not that she could blame them, really.

“Yes, he is and he’s in a long term albeit unusual relationship with another man so he’s not interested. Take off the shirt,” Merlin said, his patience getting short.

“What? How can you possibly presume-” Morgana started but Merlin raised his eyes and she fell silent.

“Because he’s with me, alright,” he admitted, setting the mortar down. “That’s why I keep an eye on him. That’s where I go. That’s why we’re in this whole mess because you were with Leon and I was with him instead of either of us actually doing our job. And that’s why he’s agreed to come home with us, become one of us. For me. Because, insane as it is, he loves me and somehow, devil only knows how, he’s made me love him so here we are and I assure you, nobody cares about your boobs so can you take off the damn shirt? Thank you.”

“Ok then,” Morgana said, trying to drop her eyebrows from where they had shot up and pretend that Merlin hadn’t just dropped a massive bombshell on her. She unbuttoned the shirt and let it fall onto the leaves, pooling around her legs. She usually made a move to cover herself with her long tresses of hair but this time, she didn’t bother. It would only get in the way and if Merlin was telling the truth – and she knew he was because nobody could lie about that – then nobody was really paying any attention to her nudity.

Merlin took the dagger in his hand and the light caught it. “Who wants to go first?”

“I’ll do it,” Morgana said, not even sure what she was signing up for, only that despite what Merlin said, this was her fault and it was the least she could do.

Merlin turned to her and placed the knife over her heart, sliding down around the curve of her breast rather than plunging it in, which was a relief. She drew in a breath through her teeth, trying to blot out the pain and finding she couldn’t.

“The blade is blessed, sorry,” Merlin muttered, pulling it away from her skin and replacing it with his hand. His touch was cold compared to the heat of the blood pouring from the cut and it flowed over his palm until his hand was covered.

“Arthur,” Merlin said, turning his head towards him but keeping his hand on Morgana. “Find me the one marked _herbal militaris_ \- the one with the white flowers.”

Arthur glanced over the bottles on the floor, finding one that looked right. “Says Yarrow.”

“Oh right, I couldn’t fit the Latin on the label, sorry,” Merlin said distractedly. “Pass some of the leaves, not the flower.”

Arthur pulled out a sprig and peeled a leaf off, handing it to Merlin who put the leaf in his mouth and chewed it for a few seconds before lifting Morgana’s hand and spitting it into her cupped palm. “You can take it from here, right?”

She nodded and when he pulled his hand away, red and dripping still, she applied the leaf to the cut to aid coagulation. 

“Ready?” Merlin asked, turning to Arthur.

Arthur nodded and bit his lip, baring his chest for the blade. Morgana watched curiously as Arthur closed his eyes against the pain of the cut. He was doing this for Merlin, she remembered, trying not to feel guilty. She would do the same – and much more, if needed – for Leon. A selfish part of her wondered if maybe she could do the same with Leon. If she could somehow talk him into becoming a demon and crossing over to her world.

She pulled her hand away from the cut, the blood having slowed to a trickle and reminded herself that life there was horrible and she wouldn’t wish it on Arthur, let alone Leon, if she had the choice. Besides, they only had enough energy for one transfer. Cedric. She couldn’t kill another demon.

Merlin copied the same actions he had done with her and then called on her to pass more yarrow, both his hands bloodstained now. She passed Arthur what she hadn’t used and held onto his hand for a second, trying to thank him wordlessly for what he was doing for her.

“Can you grab the mortar too?” Merlin asked and Morgana broke contact with Arthur, searching for the bowl.

“How the Hell did you do this alone last time?” Morgana asked absently. It seemed every hand had something on it now, be it blood or herbs or plain old dirt, and none of it could mix.

“Erm, I didn’t,” Merlin said as he scooped up the mix into his hands and placed one hand back over Arthur’s cut. “I was a druid, I was... chosen or something, I don’t know, I didn’t really want to know. The Elders did all the hard work, I just had to kill the thing and channel the magic.”

Morgana’s breath caught in her throat. Merlin had never, ever, spoken of his life as a human before. She didn’t even know if his name had been the same. Now she felt like she almost knew too much. “Why did you do it then?”

Merlin looked at her, gold turning through his eyes. “Better the devil you know. Or so they thought.”

An ironic laugh rose in Morgana’s throat but she clamped down her jaw as Merlin pressed his other hand, the one with Arthur’s blood under the thick paste, against the cut on her chest. It had clotted by now but it was still open and she still had to keep herself from crying out in pain.

“They wanted a demon they could control,” Merlin explained, flexing his fingers as though he was trying to claw through her skin. “They fell off the good magic wagon, so to speak. And I was the strongest of them. Other than the Elders of course, but they weren’t about to put themselves up for sale so they asked me. And I said yes.”

Merlin’s eyes glowed again and Morgana could feel him under her skin, searching, like her body was a drawer he was rummaging through.

“Saying no would have been worse than saying yes anyway so I did it. They tied the thing up and I killed it. They’d tortured it before so I knew exactly where to go and what to do. When I got over this side, I stumbled right into Gaius and he took care of me while I changed. He has an eye for doctoring, I swear.”

“Ah,” Morgana gasped, the pain becoming too much. It was like she was being shelled now, her insides pulling away from the outside.

 

“Sorry, he’s being elusive, slippery little bugger,” Merlin said. “Anyway, they summoned me back and I curtailed to them for a bit until I learned how things worked. Then I killed them all, used the first fifty souls to buy my place on the ladder and I’ve never let anyone control me since, least of all little upstarts like this one.”

Morgana fisted the dirt at her sides, Merlin’s invisible hands raking over her bones like a badly made xylophone.

“Fuck,” Merlin swore suddenly. “I can’t find him. Morgana.”

Morgana shook her head, her eyes closed against the pain.

“Morgana, open your eyes,” Merlin insisted and she just about managed to squint against the bright sunlight. “Think about Cedric, think about how you killed him right there, his life leaving his body and- and- damn it!”

Merlin released his grip on her, keeping his real hand still against her skin so that her body could stop pulling itself apart for a second.

“What?” Morgana asked as soon as she was able to get the words out even though she half already knew. She couldn’t feel him either. She hadn’t for a while but she’d only just noticed.

“Cedric’s gone. We’re fucked,” Merlin said and made to take his hand away but Morgana clung onto his wrist, keeping it there.

“Keep looking!” She insisted. She couldn’t go in the Cage, she couldn’t never see Leon again.

“He’s not there Morgana, the only energy there is your own, I can’t take that, it’ll-“

“Kill me?” Morgana finished for him. Maybe that was better. She could be rid of this whole mess and Merlin could say he’d taken justice into his own hands and replaced her with Arthur. It wasn’t a perfect solution but it was actually safer than what they had planned. She swallowed down rising tears and prepared to tell him to do it.

“No, not necessarily. I mean, it could, if I wanted to... but I think I could just take enough to turn Arthur. I don’t know, it’s just theory, Morgana. It’s not worth risking it and being wrong.”

“It is,” Morgana decided. “How much would you need?”

“Half at least. It would make you weak. You wouldn’t be able to fight Sophia. It’s like a sand timer, the more I give to him, the more I take from you...”

Morgana frowned in concentration, seeing another way. “It goes through you? You control the flow of power?”

“Yes,” Merlin said hesitantly.

“And you can take it either way?”

“I can’t leech from Arthur, he’s human, he’d die,” Merlin dismissed quickly but Morgana shook her head.

“Not if you gave him everything from me and gave me that in return,” Morgana said, digging her nails into his hand as though she could force his power back into her.

“Morgana, you’d be... mortal, I can’t do that.”

“I’d be human,” she said, smiling. “Please, Merlin, that’s what I want.”

“But they’d string me up if I took out a Commander and brought in a newbie,” Merlin said desperately, reaching for an excuse.

“Keep some back for yourself then. Take my place. Find Sophia and pull her pretty little head off her body and train Arthur as your general. Don’t you see, it’s better than anything else we could do. Merlin, please!”

Merlin turned to Arthur and Morgana didn’t know if he was looking for back up or the answer but Arthur truly surprised her. “If it was us and we had a chance at normal – I know we don’t, that’s not what I’m asking – but if we did, would you refuse it?”

“You’ll die, Morgana,” Merlin said angrily but his eyes didn’t grow gold, they sparkled blue like water, with angry tears.

“Not today though,” Morgana reasoned. “I’d rather this than live forever as I am now, I’m sorry.”

Merlin nodded and she felt the pain return, this time she knew her insides really were being pulled from her, at least metaphorically. She felt all the power drain out of her, into Merlin and for a moment she was sure he’d taken too much because the world fell completely away from her.

-x-

“Will she be ok?” Arthur asked, glancing worriedly at Morgana’s unconscious body. There had been a moment where he’d thought he might pass out but then his whole body had cracked like a whip, filling every pore with _something_. And far from blacking out, he could see every colour, hear every bird in the trees and smell someone cooking a chicken miles away in the nearest house.

“I don’t know,” Merlin admitted. “I’ve never heard of it going backwards before. Human into demon, sure but this... this is a madness that nobody would dare think of back home.”

“You did the right thing,” Arthur said, getting up and walking over to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. Merlin felt for her pulse, it was stronger now. She would wake up soon.

“Come on, I need to go,” Merlin decided, glancing over to the cave. He opened Morgana’s balled fist and place Arthur’s car keys in her hand, wrapping her fingers back around them so they wouldn’t get lost when she woke up.

“Don’t you want to say goodbye?” Arthur asked, even though he hadn’t said goodbye to anybody in his life.

“I can’t. We don’t get old, we can’t be killed, we don’t... just one day up and decide to become human. I don’t think I know how to say goodbye anymore.”

Arthur nodded and offered Merlin a hand up, keeping hold of his hand. “So, what do we do now? Do I need to be initiated or something?”

“How about we go and depose the bitch that forced us into all this? That sounds like a pretty good initiation to me,” Merlin said, glancing down at Morgana one last time before leaving her to her humanity.

-x-

Morgana woke, gasping lungful after lungful of air until she was dizzy with it. She’d never felt so alive, even if her body was frozen and every bone, every muscle ached like she’d been in a battle. She opened her eyes and everything was dull. The sky was growing grey and she couldn’t see the leaves on the tops of the tallest trees anymore, they just became a dark green blur. She couldn’t even hear or feel anything except for her heart furiously beating because now, it needed to. It wasn’t just a useless organ that inhabited her ribcage, it was keeping her alive. She was alive! She was human!

She curled her fist around the keys. She’d never learned to drive but she supposed she couldn’t ride home on a horse and this was all she had. That and the bloodstained shirt on her back.

She hadn’t expected Merlin to stay. She’d asked him to go against everything that made sense to him and he didn’t understand it. But it was alright, she didn’t know if she could handle a goodbye either.

She scrambled up and found the path they used to reach civilisation. It ended in a small car park and an expensive looking car that had to be Arthur’s. After a few failed attempts and a lot of screeching from the car, she managed to get it open but the idea of actually driving the thing seemed entirely hopeless now. Instead, she dug around in the glove compartment for something useful and found Arthur’s mobile and a Sat Nav, helpfully telling her where she was.

 _Can you come and pick me up - GL16 8QB – can you bring some clothes too please?_.

She sent the text to Leon before remembering it wasn’t her phone.

_It’s Morgana, by the way..._

She hit send and waited a moment then the phone buzzed.

_I’ll be right there!_

She waited two hours and the sky grew black, she exhausted every CD in the glove compartment and had played every game on Arthur’s phone but finally, _finally_ headlights shone down the road.

She jumped out of the car, not caring there was a small chance that it wasn’t him and waited, her bare feet cold and goose bumps rising on her skin but she could only smile. When Leon got out of the car, she wanted to run to him but her body wouldn’t cooperate. It was like the cold air really had turned her to ice and she was frozen to the spot, silent tears running down her face like she was slowly melting. She’d thought she’d never see him again. If things had gone as planned...

But Leon ran to her instead, his arms wrapping around her back and pulling her off the ground until all she had was him and it was more than enough. But he couldn’t hold her elevated forever and he set her down on the bonnet of the car, her legs wrapping around the backs of his.

“Merlin said-” he started but Morgana shook her head.

“I’ll explain later. Can you just kiss me?” she asked.

He nodded and kissed her, pulling her in to his body again. She ran her hand over his cheek, trying to assure herself he was real and she was safe now. She was human.

-x-

_Three years later..._

“MUIRÍN! COME BACK HERE!” Morgana shouted after the toddler that had slipped out of her hand when she was trying to lock the car.

“She’s fine, I’m watching her,” Leon said, running a hand over Morgana’s back comfortingly. It hurt something chronic, way worse than it had when she was carrying Murín, her first born. She was two weeks overdue and even walking had become a nightmare but she refused to be beaten into submission by a kid that hadn’t even been born yet.

They should have postponed the picnic but when they’d arranged it, she’d hoped to be carrying the little bundle of joy in a Moses basket, not still in her belly and it was hard to get hold of Hell from this side. She had to rely on Merlin’s random visits and texts that she knew wouldn’t get replied to for weeks on end. So she couldn’t rebook and she didn’t want to let Merlin and Arthur down. Leon hadn’t seen Arthur since he’d left and he’d never gotten a proper chance to say goodbye, even though he understood why when Morgana had explained everything that happened.

Morgana sighed, pushing back the memory. It was a long time ago now and she liked to pretend she had always been human. The first chunk of her life was just a dream and she’d woken up aged twenty six, with a life fully made for her.

“Slow down at least,” she called after them. Watching them chase each other, though she couldn’t help but smile, made her feel exhausted.

“Shall we get Mummy?” Leon asked conspiratorially. This was their favourite game. They’d run up to her – usually she’d pretend to run away but she was in no state for that today – and then they’d _get_ her, which involved a lot of tickling and fake shrieking.

She had to pretend she didn’t know what they had planned and when they were about ten feet away, Leon lifted Murín so she could reach and tickle under Morgana’s chin, laughing like a maniac as she did it. Morgana pulled out her best “AH!” and ducked away.

Leon ruffled Murín’s blonde curls and set her back on the floor, keeping a firm hold on her hand and walking slowly so Morgana could keep up.

“If we have another of these, you’re carrying it,” Morgana said, only half joking.

“Deal,” Leon said with a smile, running his other hand over her bump before taking Morgana’s hand in his own.

They walked the rest of the way at a light stroll, getting Murín to name the things she saw as they passed them – squirrel, bench, tree, blackberry bush. When they finally arrived at the cave opening, she was already squealing, “Cave, cave, cave,” at the top of her lungs.

Morgana looked around but she couldn’t see Merlin or Arthur. She checked her watch and then sighed. Keeping Murín entertained was going to be a tough one; she already had way too much energy from where she’d slept in the car.

“Bloody Hell, Morgana, you look like one of those drawings of Saturn!” a voice said from behind her and she cringed. The belt had been a risky decision.

“Watch it!” Morgana said, directing her scorn to something she could complain about. “She repeats everything she hears.”

“Ah yes, how is our little God daughter... do we really have to call her that?” Merlin asked, shivering at the term. They’d not been able to attend the ceremony and Lord knows they wouldn’t be able to adopt Murín or the little one should anything happen to her and Leon but Morgana had named Merlin and Arthur God parents nonetheless.

“She’s fine... Murín, say hello to Uncle Merlin and Uncle Arthur!” Morgana said to the movement behind her skirt where Murín had gone all shy. “It’s ok, she’s like it with everyone. Five minutes and she’ll cling to you like glue, trust me.”

Merlin glanced to the side, where Arthur and Leon had wandered off, no doubt talking about what had become of the company. Shortly put, it had been sold off and gutted by the competition. Leon had quit the morning after they got back from Gloustershire. “How is he coping?” Morgana asked. She’d never really known him but she knew demon life was hard and she’d been born into it. She couldn’t imagine going from human to demon.

“He’s alright; he says it’s better than what he was doing before. At least in our line, the people ask to make bad choices... how are you? Can I hug you or will you burst?”

“I’ll be fine,” Morgana said with a wide smile, wrapping one arm around Merlin awkwardly. “I miss you. I wish you’d visit more.”

Merlin sighed but didn’t let her go. “I have to be careful. You know how it is. I told them you were dead – you escaped, took me as hostage and I had to do it. But you make a good ghost so there’s that...”

“I know,” Morgana said, giving him one last squeeze before she took her arm back.

“And you could always visit us in Hell, it’s very warm in the summer, you know,” Merlin joked.

Morgana laughed and then put her hand on her back wincing. “Oh, don’t, I can’t laugh, it makes me need to pee.”

Merlin pulled a face and took her arm, leading her over to where Arthur and Leon were setting down a blanket. “Remind me again what’s so great about this human thing?”

Morgana smiled, watching as Leon pulled Murín into his lap. As if it knew, the baby kicked out towards them. She took Merlin’s hand and placed it over the stretched fabric of her maternity dress, watching his face scroll through expressions as he felt the baby kick. He shrugged but he was beaming and Morgana could tell he was proud of her – her life with Leon – even if he didn’t completely understand it himself.

“This,” she said simply.

-x-

_Devils don't fly  
But I try._

_But I try._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for Bekah who did an amazing job beta-ing this and thank you to everyone in the Merlin Chat and at Merlin Writers for all the support, arse-kicking, sprinting and word wars <3
> 
> Title and additional lyrics from [Devils Don't Fly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iip1cLoNMd4) by Natalia Kills.
> 
> Disclaimer; I'm not affiliated with Merlin or any company/brand mentioned. However Virguna is a real wildlife park that is under consideration for oil exploration. Please consider checking out [the WWF site](http://www.wwf.org.uk/how_you_can_help/virunga/) about it. Thank you.
> 
> As of 01/01/18, I'm opting to disable comments. [More information here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13077201).


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